All That I Am
by blamslaine
Summary: It was easier for Sam to just shut himself off and pretend to be the person everyone needed him to be, nobody ever noticed how much that really hurt him though.
1. Chapter 1

Sam Evans had been called a lot of things in his young life and unfortunately none of them were ever good. Not being good enough seemed to be the recurring theme for him. He wasn't smart enough as far as teachers were concerned. Mr. Schuester and Coach Beiste were really the only exceptions to that, and that was only because the two of them looked at their students as more than just seat warmers. It was strange at first, but it was a nice change of pace from the teachers at his old school who accused him of using his dyslexia as a way of slacking off

What the teachers said to him hurt but not as much as when he thought of what the people he considered his friends thought of him. Sam tried to fit in with the guys, but he definitely burnt some bridges when Coach decided to start him instead of Finn. Sure, it wasn't his fault but that didn't stop Finn from taking the news badly. It was a shame because Sam didn't want to make any waves at McKinley. He just wanted to go about his days and not feel miserable.

Sam wasn't anywhere near as dumb as people thought he was, so he knew the whole duet thing had just been a way of getting him to join New Directions without feeling like he was being pushed into it. He could let that go though because he ended up dating Quinn as a result.

Of course that was when the universe decided to play the "you're not good enough" card again. Sam had put everything into trying to make his relationship with Quinn work, but in the end he just wasn't enough for her. When he found out she was cheating on him, all Sam wanted to do was to know why.

Why did Quinn use him; why wasn't he enough for her? No, scratch that. What Sam really wanted to know was why Quinn was so willing to give up on him for Finn; why was Finn suddenly good enough for her when she cheated on him and got pregnant by his best friend last year? But Sam was too much of a nice guy to ever hurt Quinn, or anyone, like that no matter how much they hurt him. Not that anyone thought Sam was looking out for Quinn's feelings when he started dating Santana practically the next day.

Santana was completely different than Quinn. For one thing, she was definitely more physical and took every chance she had to show it. He had heard all the rumors about her; about how "evil" she was, among other things. At the end of the day though, she was the only one of Sam's friends that had told him the truth.

He didn't want to admit it, but Sam knew almost instantly that he and Santana wouldn't last as a couple. She hated his "nerdy" side – which honestly Sam didn't think was that bad – and treated him like he had a second head or something that time she left her backpack in the music room and asked him to get it. Sam made the mistake of saying: "Behold, as a wild ass in the desert, go I forth to my work." It was like it was his fault that she had no idea what Dune was, let alone that it was a cult movie and book franchise hit.

He couldn't say anything to her about it, but if he ever made a comment that didn't agree with something Santana liked, he had better be prepared to catch hell, Santana wouldn't put up with it, and she made a point of letting him know it as often as she could. Eventually Sam just stopped trying and shut himself down. It was easier to pretend to be everything his girlfriend needed him to be than to risk losing her because of the things he enjoyed.

Sam knew that he couldn't keep the "off" button pushed indefinitely, so once again, in the end he just wasn't good enough for Santana. She didn't have to break up with him but when she sang "Trouty Mouth" to everyone, the writing was on the wall. He could live with never being good enough for someone, but there was no way in hell he was just going to sit around and be somebody's punching bag.

Sam could hear the little voice in his head telling him that he needed to quit the pity party and just focus on what Mr. Schuester was saying. Glee Club was really the only thing Sam had left. He loved football, but he wasn't starting anymore so, aside from practice, he didn't have much to do. At least most of the team talked to him. Sure, it was just the guys from Glee Club, but considering the fact that all Sam did in Glee was just sit there and basically be ignored, he would take what he could get.

"Did you take too many antibiotics?"

Sam couldn't help but jump when he heard Brittany's voice. He wasn't sure when it had happened, but some-how the two of them were the only ones left in the music room. "What?"

"The ones my doctor gives me make me forget how to walk out of a room sometimes."

Sam sighed and grabbed his backpack. Brittany, in her own little way, always wanted everyone to be happy. It was next to impossible to be in a bad mood around her and right now that made Sam kind of hate her. He didn't want to be in a good mood today. All he wanted to do was plow through the day, finish his homework, watch Avatar and fall asleep. "I'm not sick, Brittany."

"That's good. I don't want to use those cough drops… they say they taste like cherries but they don't."

"What?" Now Sam was even more confused. He really needed to pay better attention. First he blacked out everything that happened in Glee and now Brittany was saying she would need cold medicine because of him.

"It's our assignment for Glee. You're going to teach me how to play guitar, and I'll teach you how to dance."

"Sorry, I kind of spaced out. Why didn't you pair up with Artie?"

"It was Mr. Schue's idea. My man's legs don't work, and he's still a better dancer than you."

"Gee, thanks."

Brittany grabbed Sam by the arm and pulled him out of the music room and into the hallway. "Something about opposites. He's making Mike and Artie pair up so Mike focuses on singing. I think that's why he wants us to work together, but I dunno. I got bored and started looking at my shoes."

"You can let go of me, Brittany," Sam said as he gently pulled his arm out of Brittany's death grip.

"Sorry," Brittany shrugged. "I'm used to pushing Artie around."

In a matter of seconds, the strange duo found themselves standing in front of their lockers. Sam thought it was odd that it took the two of them the better part of the year to realize that their lockers were actually only two spaces apart. They had ultimately sort of been forced into hanging out regardless. Santana's locker was between his and Brittany's, so when he was dating Quinn, Sam would just stand there silently and stare into his locker while the three Cheerios talked about whatever it was that cheerleaders talked about. He never really paid much attention, which only got him into trouble the time Quinn asked him – and in teenage girl speak "ask" translates roughly into "you're going to do this… or else" – to help her with something and Sam made the mistake about saying he needed to go pick up the latest World of Warcraft expansion pack. After Santana and Quinn had their fill of mocking him, they all agreed never to include him in the conversations again.

Of course that only got awkward once he and Quinn broke up. She went out of her way to avoid that particular hallway once Sam had told her he started going out with Santana. Now that he had ended things with Santana, she made a point of never being at her locker when Sam was using his. It was like the hallway was cursed or something; relationships came there to die and only the poor textbooks haphazardly shoved in the lockers suffered because their owners just stopped picking them up after the break up.

"When's the assignment due?"

"I forget. Probably not tomorrow though, especially since you're supposed to teach me how to play guitar. Quinn's really smart - she can remember when she's not telling the truth - and even she couldn't learn from you in a day."

The mention of Quinn's name caused Sam to slam his Spanish book into his locker much more forcefully than he intended, which resulted in a loud bang. He was still upset with Quinn for cheating on him but what hurt him most of all was that Quinn managed to make Sam become the person he didn't want to be. He was so pissed off at her that he hooked up with Santana. Deep down he knew it was going to hurt Quinn, but what made Sam feel bad about it was the fact that he hadn't officially broken up with her before he hooked up with Santana. Sam didn't ever want to be that kind of guy.

"I'm sorry," Brittany said softly. "She's my friend, Santana's my friend too and I think you're my friend. Finn took me to Breadstix once and Rachel paid me to wear her sweater; it's confusing… I don't know which side to take. If we do really well on our assignment, I'll hate whoever you tell me to."

Sam laughed. It wasn't much but it was the first time all day he hadn't felt depressed. "I don't want you to hate anyone. The whole thing is just a messed up situation that I'd rather not talk about unless I have to. I just want to move on from the whole thing."

Brittany shrugged. "We don't even have to show up at Glee tomorrow. Everyone will be talking about Kurt being back anyway."

"Wait, since when is Kurt coming back?"

"Since tomorrow. You really weren't paying attention today, were you?"

Sam was glad to hear that Kurt was apparently returning to McKinley. Next to Brittany, Kurt was one of the few people that didn't use him for their own endgame. And despite constantly insisting that he dyed his hair, Kurt was quite possibly the only person who actually took Sam at face value. He might not have been paying attention when Mr. Schue announced it, but Sam was glad Kurt was coming back and he was going to make sure that no one treated Kurt the way Karofsky did; at least if Sam had anything to say about it.

Sam had been so wrapped up with his internal struggle that he hadn't noticed that someone was now standing next to Brittany.

"Brittany, right?"

Sam watched as Brittany clearly struggled with how best to acknowledge the new arrival. It didn't shock Sam when Brittany began turning to her left. Anyone else would have made fun of Brittany for reacting that way, but Sam knew better than anyone that sometimes you just can't help it if your brain makes you think a little differently. Instinctively Sam reached out, grabbing Brittany by the shoulders and turning her around in the opposite direction. He felt bad about grabbing her like that, but it had to have been better than letting her run head first into his locker door and giving her a concussion.

He had been moving on autopilot all day, but he had finally started to snap out of it enough for it to register how strange everything had played out so far. Sam felt like he had been transported into some bizzaro world. He had no idea what was going on with anything. Brittany had been helping to fill in the gaps on the things that he hadn't been able to keep up with in Glee; that meant not only had he zoned out worse than usual, but this time he was so far gone that Brittany was more aware of what was going on than he was. And now Blaine what-was-his-last-name-anyway was standing there – he remembered Rachel calling him Blaine Warbler, but he was pretty sure that was just drunk talk. Although he couldn't help but picture if that was really his real name, it would be so dorky that it would end up being kind of awesome. "Hi, I'm Blaine Warbler; I'm a member of The Warblers… I warble."

In his head Sam could hear himself sigh. Evidently, in addition to easily zoning out, today he was equally as easily distracted. He really was trying his best to focus, but it just wasn't going to happen apparently. So in this alternate reality Sam's head had sucked him in to, he was spaced out, quiet and depressed. Brittany was acting as his mentor slash spirit guide, and Blaine - last name pending - was standing there in his Dalton Academy uniform. Okay, maybe the last part wasn't so odd considering that Blaine and Kurt had practically become attached at the hip. But that didn't explain why he was here the day before Kurt was supposed to come back.

"And you're … Sam?"

"I am," Sam cringed. There never was a good way to introduce himself without seeming like he was quoting Dr. Seuss. He always thought it was kind of fun until Santana pointed out how much of a dork it made him.

Sam watched as Brittany reached out and tried to run her hand through Blaine's hair, but it was virtually impossible because of all the product in it - at least Sam thought that's what it was. Either way it didn't matter to him. It was kind of funny though, looking at Blaine with his hair all… whatever it was, and the Dalton uniform, Blaine sort of looked like the main character from Willard. He had never noticed it before, and it wasn't technically a bad thing, unless he had come with an army of killer rats, hell bent on getting revenge on Kurt's behalf.

"You have the hair – and the jacket of a serial killer," Brittany said, finally pulling her hand off of the top of Blaine's head. "I've seen enough movies to know if I talk to a stranger that looks like you, I'll end up locked up in some basement."

Brittany's comment snapped Sam back to reality. It wasn't easy though; he really wanted to spend a few minutes thinking about the possibility that Brittany had just read his mind. Sam knew that if he let Brittany keep talking, it wasn't going to end well. It had taken a while for him to get used to Brittany's particular way of going about the things she said and did; so there was no way that in the limited exposure Blaine had to them, that he'd be able to fully grasp her.

"He's in the Warblers. He was at Rachel's party with us. He sang with Rachel while you… um… danced on the washer machine."

"Sorry," Brittany said, finally taking her eyes off of Blaine's hair. "I didn't recognize you with my clothes on."

"That's completely understandable," Blaine shrugged. "We've only met like four times. So this is McKinley, huh? It's not quite how I pictured it. This is going to be -" Before Blaine could finish the sentence, Brittany was already cutting him off.

"This is boring, I'm going to leave. I'll call you tonight about the assignment," she said to Sam.

"Oh, okay," Sam was rather shocked when Brittany wrapped her arms around him and gave him a friendly squeeze.

Brittany leaned in to Sam's ear and somehow managed to speak in an even quieter tone of voice than she usually did. "He really does have serial killer hair. If he murders you, call me and I'll send help."

Sam couldn't help but stare as Brittany walked off. He was partly in shock by how Brittany unintentionally ended up improving his mood, even though she had basically said she was assuming that she was leaving him to be murdered. But most of his reaction was pure awe. Nothing got the girl down; even when she was sad, she was still freakishly happy. Sam wished that he could have even one tenth of the same outlook on life that Brittany had.

"Well, isn't she… special?"

Sam bit his lip as he felt an anger building up inside of him. He had always thought Kurt was a good judge of character – after all, he had been more than welcoming to Sam. But if Kurt considered the arrogant jackass standing in front of him a friend, then maybe Kurt was more traumatized by Karofsky than he had originally let on.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sam could feel himself take a step toward Blaine, and he knew he must have looked pissed because Blaine instantly threw his arms up and took a step back.

"Calm down."

Sam couldn't help but scoff at that. Nothing made an angry person more agitated than telling them to "calm down."

"I guess the whole 'famous' Dalton Academy zero tolerance for bullying thing goes out of the window once you leave school grounds."

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. Honestly, Brittany seems super sweet and she seems like a great person, I just wasn't prepared for her to be so open with what she says."

"Nobody deserves to be talked down to or about, especially behind their backs."

"Sam, I'm sorry. Like I said, I honestly didn't mean anything by it. It's not every day that you get to meet someone that just says the first thing that comes to mind. In my defense though, I've never had anyone come up to me and accuse me of being a serial killer. But that's the great thing about not having a tact filter, right? It doesn't matter what you say because you're always saying what you feel at that moment."

Sam let out a deep breath that he didn't know that he had been holding. He always wanted to believe the best about a person, and he really wanted to believe that Blaine didn't mean anything by it, but recently Sam was learning that he wasn't exactly the best choice of character when it came to people. Still, Kurt trusted Kurt and there was another huge check in Blaine's favor simply because Finn hadn't tried to keep him away from Kurt. Ever since Finn's mom married Kurt's dad, Finn had become really protective of his new brother. So maybe the fact that Finn hadn't found a reason to murder Blaine was reason enough for Sam to give him a second chance… for now at least.

"Just don't be a jerk."

"For what it's worth, I really am sorry. I guess I'm just nervous about starting here tomorrow."

Sam was about to say something when suddenly he felt himself being slammed into the lockers. He couldn't see who had pushed him, but considering that school had already ended for the day the suspect list was rather small. Usually the Glee kids were the last ones out of the school, they had to be considering they had their meetings after football practice so all of the guys wouldn't have to choose between the two. With football winding down Mr. Schue had decided to keep the meeting time the same since basketball season would be starting soon and Finn was likely going to try out.

Finn had tried to talk all of the guys into trying out, but so far that hadn't gone well. You couldn't get a commitment from Puck if your life depended on it, Artie had no intention of trying out, and Sam liked basketball, but not enough to devote as much time to it as he would have needed to and Mike still hadn't made up his mind.

The only other person outside of Glee that Sam knew was looking forward to it was Dave Karofsky, and he was one of the few people at McKinley that Sam wanted as little interaction with as possible; not that running into the giant bully would be a problem for much longer. However, Sam learned a long time ago how the universe worked, so he didn't need to turn around to know who it was that had slammed him into the locker; it was pretty obvious that it was Karofsky. With how Sam's day had been going, there was no way it could have been anyone else.

"So you're going here now," Karofsky snarled. It wasn't so much a question as it was just a way to distract Sam long enough to keep him from getting in the way. "What'd you leave the creepy midget for lady-lips here? Thank God my parents decided to move. I can't wait to get out of here. This school had one too many queers in it already."

Sam watched as Blaine stepped up to Karofsky. It was a little intimidating. Blaine was clearly shorter than he was and Sam was barely eyelevel with the bully. Sam was actually impressed; even with all of his adrenaline pumping when he confronted Karofsky, he was still scared. And here Blaine was, ready to go head-to-head with a dude that Blaine would have to stand on his toes just to see behind.

"It's a shame you're moving," Blaine said coldly. "We could have been real close. I've kind of always had a secret thing for bigots."

Sam wanted to laugh. Seriously, over the course of his entire life, Sam had never wanted to burst out laughing as badly as he did right now. He knew he wasn't being fair, and that it made him look like a hypocrite for getting mad at Blaine for being less than nice to Brittany. But right now he didn't care. Karofsky was a bully, pure and simple. Sure, people might expect Sam to harbor a grudge because of the black eye, but that was the last thing running through his mind. Karofsky had personally slushied almost everyone Sam knew, himself included. He pushed Artie around… and there was the whole Kurt thing. Sam still didn't know everything that had gone down, but he knew that Kurt wasn't as "weak" as everyone thought he was. If he had to transfer schools just to get away from Karofsky, something bad had to have happened. So as far as Sam was concerned, Karofsky deserved sympathy from no one.

"You people are sick," Karofsky said, pushing Blaine into the lockers. In a matter of seconds, his forearm was pressing into Blaine's neck not only effectively holding him in place, but keeping him from saying anything else as well.

"Get off him!"

"Back off, lady-lips, or you're next on my list."

Sam tried to pull Karofsky off of Blaine, but he just wasn't strong enough. That really pissed him off. It was one thing not to be good enough for someone, but being so inadequate that he couldn't even stop someone from potentially getting their neck snapped was another thing entirely. In all of the comics and movies Sam had been a fan of, the ones he liked the best were the ones about the average guy, who was just a little off, but still pretty awesome. He knew, and it was a sad thing to admit, that real superheroes didn't exist, so it wasn't like Sam could melt Karofsky with heat vision, or anything.

Clearly, things weren't going well. No matter how much Sam wanted to help, he knew he couldn't. He silently cursed because his mind instantly wandered to how much he'd be willing to give up for Darkwing Duck's gas gun. Hell, at this point he'd settle for just pulling it together long enough to be the sidekick who some how manages to stumble on the super villain's exact weakness and end up saving the day. This was turning out great - Blaine was probably going to choke to death while Sam sulked about not being strong enough to be a superhero, and not stupidly unlucky enough to be a sidekick. The only other option left was to ask for help. But unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else around.

Suddenly, Sam heard that sickening, all too familiar sound of a slushie colliding with flesh and metal. He knew he had been having a hard time focusing, but he didn't think he had been so zoned out thinking about vigilante crime fighting ducks that he blacked out long enough for Karofsky to go get a slushie. For a brief second, Sam actually believed he had been given the slushie facial, that it was the universe's way of punishing him and trying to teach him to focus more. But all it took was one look at the horrified expression on Blaine's face for Sam to realize that Blaine was the one who had been slushied, not him.

Sam felt bad for Blaine. He hated when he had gotten his first slushie, but at least it was just the three of them. It wasn't much of a win, and he wasn't counting on Blaine agreeing with him, but at least Blaine wasn't surrounded by people laughing at him, like Sam was when he was slushied. And there was the added bonus of Karofsky letting go of Blaine's neck. It's better to be sticky, wet, and have your face and clothing match the color of the lockers than to die from lack of oxygen.

"Consider me giving the slushie to him instead of you my going away present, lady-lips."

In the time it took for Sam to blink, Karofsky had already exited the hallway. Sam thoughtfully chewed on his bottom lip. He really didn't know what to say to Blaine and, before he had the chance to figure it out, the other boy had slumped to the floor, sitting in a pile of red, sticky goo. Sam clenched his fist and fought the urge to punch the lockers. That was the last thing Blaine needed right now. Sam remembered how difficult it was for him to even form words after he had been slushied, so it didn't surprise him that Blaine had barely let out a whimper afterwards. When he had first been slushied Sam had gone numb. He didn't remember what happened or how much time had passed between the slushie and when he was in the bathroom with Quinn getting cleaned up He felt bad for Blaine, and actually a little worried that he had been hurt when he noticed Blaine holding the part of his neck that Karofsky had been pressing down on.

Sam had already felt like crap all day and this only made it worse. There was no way that he could have overpowered Karofsky, but he knew that if he had just done a better job of focusing he could have saved Blaine from getting slushied or, at the very least, Sam could have created a distraction to give Blaine a chance to get free from Karofsky's grip. The entire thing could have been avoided if he had focused in Glee. Then he wouldn't have still been there, he and Brittany wouldn't have had the conversation with Blaine, and the two of them wouldn't have been cornered by Karofsky after Brittany left. That didn't sit well with Sam. If he had focused more, if he paid attention to what was going on around him instead of being off in his own little world, it wouldn't have ended this way. Sadly, the entire past half hour or so was just one more thing to be added on to an ever-growing list of things that proved, in the end, Sam Evans just wasn't good enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had always hated locker rooms. It wasn't one specific thing but rather a slow culmination of things over the course of his life. It started when he was five years old and had snuck down into the living room one night after his parents had gone to bed and watched "Carrie" for the first time. The locker room scene was by far the most frightening to him. He could handle a scorned telekinetic girl who burnt down a gym full of people after she had been humiliated, but it was far more disturbing to him to see Carrie bleeding in the shower. It didn't help, that in most slasher movies, the most brutal death scene was usually reserved for whoever was unlucky enough to be alone in the darkened locker room.

Reality wasn't as colorful as fiction, but it was far more depressing. Everyone found reasons to make fun of him when he was in the locker room. First, it was because Sam hadn't been as tall as the other guys before he had his growth spurt. Then once no one could make fun of him for his height anymore, they said his feet were too little to be as tall as he was. He had always been made fun of for his mouth, and the jokes had always been bad, but they got much more hurtful and raunchy in the locker room.

Between fiction and his interactions with classmates, Sam had already had more than enough issues with locker rooms to last a life time. And that wasn't even counting all of the fights he would get into with other boys for harassing him, or any of the issues Sam had with his own body that always managed to come to the surface at those times. So it didn't surprise Sam at all that he was sitting in the locker room with Blaine after they had both been assaulted by Karofsky. The only upsides were that Sam had only been shoved against his locker and that the red substance covering Blaine's face and upper body was a slushie instead of blood.

"Ugh, Kurt was right, getting slushied is horrible," Blaine's voice carried from the shower area.

Even though Sam didn't know Blaine that well, he hated seeing the other boy like this. He didn't want anyone to suffer, and Sam knew exactly what Blaine was feeling right now. He remembered feeling humiliated, like he had been broken down to absolutely nothing and how it only got worse when Quinn made him take off his shirt in front of her to get cleaned up.

"I remember I was devastated after my first one," Sam said absentmindedly, pulling a clean towel from his locker. "I feel really bad for Rachel. Sometimes she gets slushied twice a day."

"Well, every star must suffer for their art." It was hard to tell if the odd tone to Blaine's voice was caused by the combination of the sound of the shower and the echo from it being just the two of them in the locker room, or if his throat had really been hurt by Karofsky earlier.

"I think almost all of us have gotten it. Lauren, Brittany and Santana haven't been slushied, but I think that's because everyone is too scared to do it to any of them… especially Lauren. I heard that one time last year the Glee Club even decided to slushie Mr. Schue."

"So I guess I'll fit right in then," Blaine's voice called out from the shower area.

"Nah, you'll have to join the football team to fit in; all the guys are on it. Finn said Kurt played last year. Hell, even the girls played in our big game a few weeks back."

Sam felt extremely awkward when he had to deal with people one-on-one. He had always been surrounded by people that ignored him so he had gotten used to spending far too much time in his head. Unfortunately, because of that Sam had horrible social skills, even under the best of circumstances. And this situation was about as far away from that category as you could get without involving a serial killer. Although, with how the day had played out so far, Sam wouldn't have been surprised in the least if some costumed killer jumped out of the dirty towel cart and ran him trough with a butcher knife.

"I was going to see about maybe auditioning – for Glee Club, not the football team," Blaine's voice suddenly became clearer once the water shut off. "I could use some pointers. I know they'll take back Kurt because he was already one of you guys, but I'm thinking they'll treat me like public enemy number one."

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask for advice. I kind of blew them off at first, and I don't really think they ever got over it." Sam's head instantly shot down to his shoes once he heard what sounded like a zipper.

Sam stifled a yelp once he finally looked up and saw Blaine standing next to him. This was the second time in almost an hour that Blaine had managed to sneak up on him. The first time he could brush off because of how zoned out he had been, but this time Sam was so focused on trying to know exactly where Blaine was so he wouldn't stare at the boy that he hadn't noticed he was standing right next to him. Sam made a mental note to find out if Blaine ever made any noise when he walked.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blaine asked, pointing to his wet hair as he spoke. "It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon."

Sam couldn't help but feel sorry for the other boy; it wasn't that long ago that he was in Blaine's shoes. He had gone through the same thing. Sure, he had been at the school a few weeks and was already on the football team, but he still felt like a stranger. Blaine, on the other hand, was going through this before his first day, but he already knew Kurt so at least he had someone he could really talk to. That was when Sam decided that he had it worse than Blaine because at least the other boy had someone to talk to and that's all Sam wanted… a real friend. "Well, I was new and I had just gotten here from my old school and I had it pretty rough there…."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

There was something in the way Blaine spoke that made Sam want to open up to him even though he didn't have to. His father had always told him that a "real man" didn't open up about his feelings because that made him weak. Sam couldn't even begin to picture what his dad would say about his oldest son spilling his guts to a half-naked gay guy in a locker room. Actually, he kind of wished his father was there because it would get some type of reaction from him.

"I just wanted to get by and not get hassled so I went out for the football team. Finn heard me singing and asked me to come by and meet the guys; we jammed out for a while but when it came time to actually audition and meet Mr. Schue, I stood them up. A few weeks later they had this duet competition and I got over my own insecurities and just hung out with them – that was when I got my first slushie."

It actually hurt talking about these things, but Sam figured if Kurt trusted Blaine enough then maybe he could, too. "I paired up with Quinn and we won, but later I found out that Finn and Rachel rigged it so I would win because they were one person short of meeting the requirements to compete and they figured if I won then I would stick around. Quinn and I started dating just before Coach pulled Finn and made me quarterback and all those things really got Finn pissed at me. It didn't help that Kurt kind of had a crush on me either. I guess Finn thought I was trying to do the male version of 'Single White Female' to his life."

It took a second before it dawned on Sam what he had just said to Blaine. "Oh… um… sorry."

"Kurt and I are just friends. We thought there might be something more there but it just didn't work out. This isn't making you uncomfortable is it?"

"It's cool." Talking with Blaine had given Sam a level of comfort he hadn't felt when he interacted with anyone since his family moved to Lima. With the bulk of it already told, Sam quickly covered everything up to his recent breakup with Santana and how he still didn't feel like he fit in with the rest of the group.

"I guess once you join New Directions, they won't really need me anymore. It's my fault really. If I hadn't been a chicken about joining Glee Club at first then maybe we would all be friends now." Sam was practically gasping for air by the time he finished. He didn't think that he had ever spoken as much in the entire time he had been at McKinley as he had just now. Everybody always said that getting things off of your chest makes you feel better, but right now Sam wasn't so sure. If anything, he felt even more insecure than usual after opening up to someone who was essentially a stranger to him.

"Wow, that's a lot of information. Okay, first off – I'm not going to back out of an audition because I'm scared, no offense. Secondly you, Quinn and Santana were the reason New Directions tied with us at Sectionals this year. There is no way they're going to throw you out, especially to replace you with the guy you beat. By the way, I'm not a humble person so you should consider the fact that I just admitted you were better than I was a serious compliment. Other than Kurt, I don't really know these guys by anything other than their vocal talent, but I have to ask, if they are using you, and you know it, why do you let them?"

Sam shrugged. "I guess it's better to be wanted for the wrong reasons than to be not wanted at all. I just don't want people to hate me."

"If I say something, are you going to go Captain Caveman on me again?" The tone in Blaine's voice made it almost impossible to tell if he was being genuine or sarcastic.

Sam could barely fight the urge to smile. He seriously doubted that Blaine knew Captain Caveman was cartoon from before they were born and that Sam used to watch the reruns as a kid. No one ever got any of the references that Sam made. "I promise not to pummel you as long as you don't make a joke about my mouth."

Blaine nodded in agreement before saying anything else. "That kind of thinking is for people like Karofsky. The guy willing to risk his life to save someone he's only had one conversation with from getting their neck snapped by the Incredible Hulk deserves better than to be used like that."

There wasn't a single thing that Blaine said that didn't shock Sam. He honestly hadn't been expecting the other boy to have paid attention to anything Sam had been saying. "You know who the Incredible Hulk is?"

"A Hollywood executive's very bad idea to take a hot actor and replace him with hideous CGI effects," Blaine said, staring at his ruined Dalton blazer. "This is never going to come out."

Sam learned to keep extra clothes in his locker somewhere between the second time he was slushied and the fourth time Santana made a joke about his "nerd" shirts. He still wasn't entirely sure why it was okay in his former girlfriend's eyes for him to dress like Justin Bieber – not that he enjoyed that – but it was completely unacceptable for him to wear one of his Star Wars T-shirts. He knew he couldn't let Blaine run around Lima shirtless, but the only clean T-shirt he had in his locker was a GI Joe shirt he bought last month. He didn't want to be selfish, but he hadn't even gotten to wear the shirt himself yet.

"Here," Sam felt bad that he was actually sad to be handing over his shirt to the other boy. When he was in second grade, he had lent one of his toys to his next door neighbor and he never got it back.

Those kind of things happened, especially when you were young, but Sam knew the reason why his action figure was never returned was because the other boy had been scared when he heard Sam's father yelling at him in the driveway for not having "enough respect" for him to not loan out something that his father had bought. "Trust me, you'll regret it if you put that shirt and jacket back on before you wash them."

"Thanks," Blaine said, taking the shirt from him.

Sam could tell that Blaine was surprised by the shirt, but he was too tired to care. He was trying to help the kid out; if he didn't like the type of shirt it was, he didn't have to wear it. If Blaine hated the T-shirt so much, he could wear his Dalton blazer and ruin his car seat for all he cared.

"It's getting late and I've got bunch of homework. Um… if you don't need anything, I'm just going to head home."

"Wait," Blaine quickly put on the shirt Sam had loaned him and stood up. "Let me give you a ride home, you know, as a thank you for helping me out."

"I didn't finish my workout earlier. I'm just going to jog home; that way I can get in some cardio."

"It meant a lot that you stood up for me, Sam. Thank you for that, really."

Sam couldn't tell how Blaine was reacting to what he just said. He didn't have a good enough read on the other boy to know if he seemed withdrawn because Sam wanted to leave, or if he was still suffering from what Sam considered "post traumatic slushie disorder."

"School should be pretty calm with Karofsky gone, but if anybody gives you crap, you better tell me."

"Deal," Blaine smiled and shook his head.

* * *

><p>The entire jog home, Sam couldn't stop thinking about the conversation with Blaine. It was odd having someone really listen to him for a change. It was a weird situation actually. He wasn't glad that Karofsky had gone off on the two of them or that Blaine had been slushied, but if it hadn't happened, the two of them never would have spoken. It was nice being able to talk to someone and not feel like he was being judged by everything he said, or didn't say. Maybe there was some hope in salvaging the rest of the day.<p>

Things went pretty smoothly once Sam got home. After a quick shower Sam ended up powering through his homework rather quickly - of course that was because he lucked out by not having any assignments that required a lot of reading; otherwise Sam knew he would have been up most of the night working on it.

Sam wasn't surprised when he heard a knock at the front door. He just assumed that his little brother or sister lost their house keys, it's not like it was the first time that happened. What did shock him was when he opened the door to find Brittany standing on the other side. He had no idea that she even knew where he lived. "Umm, how did you know where I live?" Sam asked as he rolled his eyes at himself. Evidently he had entered the portion of the day where he said exactly what was on his mind.

"Mr. Schue told me. I know he said we're only supposed to call him if we're drunk, but he told me where you live once I told him I left you with a serial killer."

"You know Blaine's not actually a serial killer, right?" Sam stepped aside to let Brittany in.

"I know he's not a good one because you're still alive. Wait," Brittany reached out and poked Sam in the chest, "you're not a ghost are you?"

"I promise if I ever become a ghost you'll be the first person I tell."

Brittany shrugged and, for the first time Sam realized that was pretty much her standard reaction, no matter what she saying. "Good, when you're a ghost, you can give me all the answers to my tests. Mr. O'Hare gets mad when I turn in my math tests and the only thing on them is a picture of a flower. He doesn't even let me use crayons anymore."

He wasn't entirely sure how to respond, so he decided to just take Brittany up to his room so they could work on the assignment for Glee. Sam didn't really want to take Brittany to his room; he knew that she would have something to say about how "nerdy" it was. But deep down he knew that if anyone wouldn't judge him for being himself it would be Brittany.

He was a little afraid that it would be overstimulation for her, between the wall-to-wall sci-fi movie posters, the shelves full of his DVD collection, the closet full of boxes of comic books that he still hadn't found the time to unpack, and the glow-in-the-dark solar system stickers he hung above his bed. He remembered how much his father hated that he bought a new set once they moved to Lima. Sure, they were meant for elementary school kids, but Sam had a very similar setup above his bed since he was a little kid; it wasn't his fault he had a hard time falling asleep without them hovering over his head. His entire room could be hard to take in, especially for someone who seemed as prone to being distracted as Brittany could be.

"Your room's really nice… do you ever wake up and forget you're on Earth? That happens to me sometimes."

"Uhh, no," Sam chuckled. "I can honestly say that's never happened to me. So… um, any ideas on what song we're going to do?"

The two of them spent a little over an hour listening to the songs Brittany had brought over. It wasn't a bad way to spend the time; she did have pretty good taste in music. Then came what felt like an endless stream of Britney Spears songs. Sam was trying not to get frustrated but after the 10th song in a row started, he silently wished that the next song would be anything but Britney.

"What about that one?" Brittany asked immediately after "If You Seek Amy" finished playing.

"We can't sing that."

"But it's Britney Spears."

"Yeah, but it's a Britney Spears song where she's begging you to have sex with her." Sam felt bad shooting the idea down. The song did seem fun, but he could already picture how insecure he would feel singing and dancing to that song in front of everyone else in Glee.

"If you think about it, every song anyone sings is about sex. Can we at least put it in the 'maybe' pile?" Brittany asked in that special way she had where it was impossible to tell if she was upset, or if she had already checked out of the conversation.

"Yeah," Sam really didn't want to argue with Brittany about this. It was pointless anyway; he knew that Mr. Schue wouldn't let them sing it.

"What's going on here?"

Sam instantly jumped off of his bed when he heard his father's voice. "Hi. Dad, I can explain. This is Brittany. She goes to school with me – we're working on an assignment for school."

"Sure you are."

Sam couldn't tell if his dad believed him or not. There was no reason why he shouldn't; it was the truth after all. He hated that even though his dad was standing right in front of him his father couldn't even be bothered to look at him. It was sad that Sam felt like the only time he ever got any real attention from his father was when he was being told how big of a disappointment he was to the family.

"Well, yeah, it's for Glee Club… it's kind of like our homework."

"You finally bring a girl up to your room and it's because of Glee Club? And to make it worse the two of you are wasting your time on something that isn't even for a real class."

With each passing word from his father Sam felt like he was shrinking. He knew his father hated that he joined New Directions and that upset him a lot. Sam had always done what his dad wanted him to do; he couldn't understand why his dad couldn't just let him have this one thing. Sure most of the kids ignored him, but it was one of the few times each day that he actually felt happy to just be doing something. It didn't matter to him that he wasn't the best singer, or dancer, or that he didn't get a lot of solos – at the end of the day, New Directions needed him, and he was more than willing to let that be good enough. "If you need us to, we can go into the basement so we don't make a lot of noise."

"What I need is for your mother to have never signed the permission slip. You spend so much time on that club that things like your football and grades are suffering."

Sam cringed when his father brought up his grades. Any other parent in the world would be happy to see their dyslexic son bring home a B in English on his progress report, but not his father. Oh no, when he gave the mini report card to his father, all he got was a sigh and the usual "you're using that as an excuse not to have to work hard." Of course, that was just the initial reaction. Later at dinner – which in Sam's house was an experience in and of itself – his father had pulled him aside and gave him this little gem of wisdom: "If you lived up to your potential you'd be starting quarterback right now and you'd be bringing home A's because none of the teachers would want to risk you not playing."

"We'll stay out of your way." When Sam spoke, his voice was so soft that even he could barely hear it.

Sam could feel his father's eyes going right through him. It didn't matter that he was looking at him; Sam could tell that his father was really focused on Brittany. It felt like an eternity before his father said anything. "Bridgette, maybe an attractive girl like you can talk some sense into my son and get him to focus on what's really important instead of wasting his time on comic books and prancing around singing showtunes."

Before Sam could say anything – not that he would have since when he got like this because it was best to just let his dad tell him he was disappointed in him and go back to ignoring him – his father walked away. It was his father's way of ensuring that he always had the last word.

"But… I'm Brittany…"

"My dad has a thing with names." Right now Sam was so far gone he couldn't tell if Brittany was correcting his father or if she was busy trying to convince herself that she really was "Brittany" and not "Bridgette."

"Your dad seems really mean. I don't think he likes me."

"Yeah, well, a lot of the time I don't think he likes me much either." Sam didn't want to talk about his dad, but it's not like he could avoid it right now. He was stuck. He couldn't just ignore Brittany because that would be too mean, and he couldn't turn the music up because that would only bring his father back in to his room. There really wasn't any other option he could think of. Sam rubbed his eyes and sighed. He really didn't want to have this conversation, not with Brittany or anyone.

"At least he didn't flip out when he found me on your bed. Parents don't like it when they come home and find me in one of their beds."

Sam couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at that. He wanted to comment on what Brittany had just said, but ultimately he decided it would be best just to leave that alone. After all, Brittany was trying to help; she didn't deserve to be unintentionally offended. "You were a Cheerio; he wouldn't have cared beyond that."

Brittany rolled over on to her back, hanging her head so it was upside down off of the edge of Sam's bed, the end of her ponytail swaying against the carpet as she spoke. "How can he tell?"

Sam knew how he got after one of his "talks" with his dad and that was a huge factor in why he never invited any of the kids from Glee Club over. He didn't want anyone to see him like this. Well, that and the fact that none of them had ever asked to come over either. Looking back on it, the fact that the two girlfriends he had since coming to Lima never made the effort to even ask to come over should have been a pretty big sign that neither of those relationships would end up working out. So far, Brittany was the first one to ever come to his house, and naturally the universe had decided that today was the day Sam's dad came home early.

Sam sighed. "Dad always told me that since I'm on the football team, bringing any girl that isn't a cheerleader up to my bedroom is a waste of time."

"Maybe he thinks you'll get them pregnant," Brittany tried to shrug but, given her current position, it almost caused her to fall off of Sam's bed. "It's stupid. Cheerleaders are way more slutty than other girls. If you accidentally get anyone pregnant, it will be a Cheerio."

"I guess." Sam didn't feel like talking anymore. Right now, he wished he had gone with his original plan and just locked himself in his room, did his homework and watch "Avatar." "Would you be mad if we stopped for today?"

"I don't get mad. It's too hard to remember why. Tomorrow I'll drive and we can go to my house after school and work on our assignment. It's nice there; it smells like cookies and I've got Britney Spears posters everywhere, so my walls are really pretty and I don't remember ever seeing your dad at my house."

Once she was off of his bed, Sam picked up Brittany's backpack and handed it to her. He had decided that he would walk her out of his house or, at the very least down the stairs. At least that way he could be sure that she didn't run into his dad again. "Am I really that bad of a dancer?"

Sam wasn't sure if Brittany waited to answer him until they were downstairs by his front door because she was trying to think of how to answer him, or if she was just focusing on trying to not fall down the stairs and break her leg or something. Knowing Brittany it could have been either of those things or something so far outside of the box that even Sam wouldn't be able to picture it.

"Finn's worse," Brittany finally spoke. "And he's really tall so we can't hide him behind anyone. You're not really bad… but you do these things with your arms that make it look like you're boxing invisible dragonflies."

"Is there any way that you could not tell everybody about what happened?" Sam shoved his hands into his pockets. It was all he could do to keep from getting on his knees and begging Brittany to forget she had ever come over to his house.

"They already know. We were all together when Mr. Schue paired everybody up, remember?"

For a brief moment, Sam wasn't sure if Brittany honestly had no idea what he was talking about or if she understood how upset he was, so she was pretending not to know to make him feel better. Every once in a while, there were glimpses that made it clear that if you could get past all of the odd things that Brittany would say that there was someone worth getting to know. After seeing how she had reacted to his father, Sam didn't understand why people were so willing to discount Brittany. Despite the whole name thing, she didn't seem phased by him at all. Seeing that, made Sam like her more; because half of the time he wanted to run off into the woods screaming after something as simple as a conversation with his father. Right now Sam was conflicted, he wished that Brittany didn't understand what he was talking about because being ignored would hurt less than being felt sorry for.

"I mean about how my dad is." Before Sam could say anything else, Brittany took his hands out of his pockets and locked each of her pinky fingers with his.

"I double pinky swear, that's how serious I am. We're friends, Sam, I won't tell anyone."

For what felt like the first time in far too long, Sam actually smiled while he was at home. He was sure his dad would have something to say to him later, but he didn't care, especially since now he was pretty sure he could talk to Brittany about it if he wanted to. Now he was glad that the two of them had been paired together and Sam was genuinely sad to see Brittany leave. They were an odd little pair, but it was nice spending time with her and he'd give anything not to have to go back inside and risk running into his father before he made it back up to his bedroom.

Sam waited until Brittany had gotten inside of her car and pulled off before he went back inside. By some small miracle, he made it back into his room without running into his father. He decided not to risk his luck so Sam grabbed his laptop, "Avatar" DVD, and his headphones before getting comfortable on his bed. He usually hated watching movies with his headphones, but he didn't want his father complaining about all the noise.

Sam tried his best to get into the movie, but it just wasn't working out and, for the first time ever, he actually shut the movie off before it was over. All Sam could think about was everything that happened with Blaine and Brittany after school. Tomorrow, everyone would make a big deal about Kurt's first day back and Blaine transferring, but that meant Sam would find himself fading further into the background. Surprisingly, Sam didn't really care. After all, today started out bad, but it had two bright spots. Maybe tomorrow would be the same.


	3. Chapter 3

So far the day had been better than Sam expected. The morning wasn't as rough as it usually was, mostly because his father had already left for work by the time Sam got up. Sam hated to admit it, but he was glad that he didn't run into his father; he wasn't ready for another one of those "you're wasting your life with unimportant things," one-sided conversations, especially so soon after the one from yesterday. Classes went surprisingly well, if for nothing more than the small miracle that his English teacher didn't call on him when she decided to have the class take turns reading out loud.

Before Sam knew it, most of the day had already flown by and it was time for Glee Club. He wasn't sure that was a good thing though. What Brittany had said yesterday would be true. Everyone would be focused on Kurt coming back, and Sam knew he would end up fading further into the background. That wouldn't be too bad - he was used to it after all - but that meant all that was left was going to Brittany's to practice and then back home, and he wasn't looking forward to either of those things.

Sam liked Brittany, but he wasn't entirely sure he could trust her not to run around and tell everyone about what happened at his house. And even if she did keep her promise, that didn't mean that he was willing to deal with the awkwardness that would be in the air. The thing that Sam was most worried about was Brittany's unpredictability. She was just as likely to want to talk about what happened at his house yesterday as she was to want to talk about why she thought apples should be blue. There was simply no telling how long it would be before she accidentally told someone.

Sam was surprised when Brittany sat down next to him in Glee. It wasn't that he didn't notice her coming – he had been doing a much better job focusing today – it was the fact that someone was sitting next to him at all that threw him. When he was dating Quinn and Santana, he would sit with them, but for the most part, with the exception of when Mike was trying to hide in the back so he wouldn't have to sing any solos, no one ever sat next to Sam unless it was the only open seat left.

"I was thinking about our song last night. What if we do a mash-up? That way we only have to do half of two songs, and we can arrange it so we play instruments for part of it and dance the rest; you know, so that way we don't have to try to lock down two separate routines." Sam figured if he could sidetrack Brittany, she would be less likely to want to talk. "Oh and hi."

"You can't come over today," Brittany said rather abruptly.

Sam closed his eyes and sighed; he knew this would happen. Brittany had seen a side of him that he desperately tried to keep hidden, and it was too much for her. He couldn't help but wonder if it was because of how geeky he was, or if it was his father. It was pointless because Sam knew if he were different, then his father would treat him better and yesterday wouldn't have happened.

"Oh… I'll tell Mr. Schue that I need to focus on my classes, and I won't have time for the assignment since it's an extra curricular activity anyway. At least that way he won't be mad at you and you can have a new partner."

"I don't want a new partner," Brittany placed her head on Sam's shoulder as she spoke. "You can't come over because I have detention. I asked Mr. O'Hare if I could turn in my assignment tomorrow. He said no and I told him that was racist because it's not my fault that I have long hair and I need time to properly brush it so it won't fall out like all his did."

Sam was more thrown by Brittany's head on his shoulder than he was by what she had just said. He knew that she was a very hands-on person, but usually that was reserved for Santana or Artie. "So that's why he was in such a bad mood in second period."

"I offered him a wig so he could feel my pain, but I think that made him mad."

Sam couldn't believe that the one day he had actually tried his hardest to focus and not to zone out was the one day that there was a justifiable reason to be picturing their 50-something math teacher in Brittany's neon blue Katy Perry wig. Where was that visual yesterday when Sam was depressed and needed to be cheered up? "I thought you were blowing me off because my dad scared you."

"Lots of things scare me: your dad, balloons, clowns, the ability to add two digit numbers without a calculator… calculators. Wait, what were we talking about?"

"I'm really glad we were paired up," Sam smiled. "Hey, um, you didn't tell anybody about what happened yesterday, did you?"

"No. I didn't write about it in my diary either, so even Lord Tubbington and Charity don't know."

Before Sam had a chance to ask Brittany who she was talking about, the rest of the Glee Club began filing in. Like always, no one really said anything to him. The only different thing was that Santana happened to give him an even dirtier look than usual. Nothing came of it though because Mr. Schuester, Kurt and Blaine all walked in immediately after Santana did.

It turns out that both he and Brittany were right - everyone was so wrapped up in the fact that Kurt was back that nothing else really mattered. Surprisingly, Sam didn't feel bad about being ignored; he didn't know Kurt well, but he liked what he knew about him, so he was glad to have him back. Sam was trying to focus and pay attention to what everyone was saying, but for some reason he couldn't stop staring at Blaine. There was something about how the other boy just stood there, silently watching everything play out that caught his attention.

The two of them couldn't possibly be any more different. Thinking back on when he was in Blaine's shoes, all he could remember was – and he would never openly admit it to anyone because they would laugh him right out of Lima – feeling like the puppy his mom got him when he was five. The puppy spent half of the day running around the house, practically jumping up and down barking his head off at the over-stimulation. Even though Sam had been nervous standing in front of the group when he first met them, all he wanted was for just one of them to see something worthwhile in him.

Blaine was the other end of the spectrum. He stood there, taking everything in, watching how everyone played off of each other; it was like he was trying to observe everyone and figure out the best way to work himself in. Sam couldn't help but wonder if the Blaine that he spent time with yesterday was just an act, and that maybe, deep down Blaine was just as insecure and scared of not being liked as he was. There was something inside of Sam that needed to figure Blaine out. He wasn't sure how much time had actually passed, or what he missed out on when he was off in his head, but Sam's focus came back the second Blaine opened his mouth to speak. Before anyone else began to pay attention, Sam found himself leaning in, ready to hang on every word the teen was about to say.

"Okay, you pretty much already know all of the important things: My name is Blaine Anderson, I was the lead soloist for the Dalton Academy Warblers, I'm gay-"

"He's also not a serial killer," Brittany added.

"There's also that," Blaine nodded. "I wasn't entirely sure how you conduct your auditions, if there's something specific you guys want me to sing, I can do that."

"We know you can sing. Blaine," Rachel said. "But the fact remains we've been through this before. Kurt's an exception because we know him – it's simply too big of a risk for sabotage if we let you join."

Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed. "Rachel, you're insane. The Warblers aren't even going to Nationals. Why on Earth would he try to ruin our chances?"

"Kurt, I'm sorry, but there's precedent. Quinn, Santana and Brittany all joined Glee Club to spy on us for Coach Sylvester, Jesse transferred here to spy on us… among other things. Can you say for sure that Blaine's not doing the exact same thing?"

"Do you really think you're going to luck out twice, Berry?" Santana asked. "I mean, what are the chances that another long-lost family member who threw you away would suddenly track you down, and hire a kid from a rival school to transfer and keep tabs on you? Really, we're all still shocked it happened the first time."

"God, why do you have to be so fricken evil all the time, Santana?" Even though he had no idea what she was talking about, Sam was sure that was the best way to respond to her.

"You weren't even here when that went down Trouty, so hows-about you just sit there and keep those giant soup coolers shut because the only thing you could do with them that was half decent wasn't talking."

"What's the matter, Santana? Wishing you asked your plastic surgeon to work on something besides your chest?" Blaine asked, staring Santana down.

At first, Sam wasn't entirely sure that he heard Blaine correctly. Nobody ever stood up for him. And as active as his mind was, he never went as far as realistically visualizing his fantasies. So when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Puck and Finn grab Santana to keep her from lunging over Artie to get to Blaine, Sam knew he couldn't be imagining what just happened.

"Get off me," Santana screeched, wildly swinging at Puck and Finn. "Don't know why you're here, Hobbit, don't care; I'm the bitch here. Step to me, you're going down."

"Come on, Santana," Finn tried his best to calm the girl down. "You can't hit him; it's like a hate crime."

"Dude, Santana hates everybody," Puck said.

"Come on, guys," Mr. Schuester finally spoke. It seemed like he always found a way of stepping in just a little too late. "Do we really have to go through this every time someone wants to join? Do none of you remember when we started New Directions last year, and we struggled to even have six members? The only fair way to resolve this is with a vote."

"Personally, I don't care one way or the other," Lauren spoke for the first time the entire meeting. "You all want Kurt back; no matter how you guys vote, you'll just cave to Kurt and he'll get his way in the end. Why bother voting? I say yes just to get it over with."

Despite Lauren's speech, one by one everyone cast their vote and it seemed like for every one who said yes, a no followed. Each person settled on a simple yes or no until it was Rachel's turn to vote.

"I am sick of no one taking my warnings seriously. And since none of you are willing to give me final say, when I clearly know what's best for Glee Club, I vote no, but I reserve the right to say I told you so when it becomes appropriate."

"Alright," Mr. Schuester said once he finished adding up the votes. "That's everybody but Finn and Sam."

"Mr. Schue," Finn began nervously. "I don't really think I should vote. I'm in a no-win situation here. My girlfriend voted no, but Kurt wants me to say yes. No matter what I do I'm screwed."

"Okay Finn, as long as you're sure." Mr. Schuester paused for a moment, waiting to make sure Finn was okay with his decision, before he moved on to Sam. "Without Finn it's six to six, so it's up to you, Sam."

"Well?" Rachel and Kurt asked in unison, both of them turning in Sam's direction with their hands on their hips, staring him down.

Right then, Sam wished he could be just about anywhere else. He would even willingly trade places with Finn at this point because it would mean upsetting only one person instead of the six people he would have angry with him no matter how he voted. These types of situations were always so much easier to watch in movies. If this were fiction, whatever decision Sam made would magically be the right one and in the end everyone would love him.

If he voted no, then he would alienate himself from the other Glee kids who just basically ignored him; if he voted yes, then he would give people like Santana and Puck one more reason to give him crap. He honestly didn't have any idea what to do. Sure, his life would be easier if he voted no but in the process Sam knew he would be hurting someone who actually treated him decently and hadn't tried to use or hurt him.

He couldn't do it; he couldn't hurt someone like that. "He's a good singer, I mean shouldn't that be enough? So, yeah, I think he should stay." Sam didn't need to look at anyone to know the only two people truly happy with his vote were Kurt and Blaine. At least Sam made two people happy; he could live with disappointing the others.

* * *

><p>It wasn't surprising that everyone moved on pretty quickly once Glee Club was over for the day. Brittany had detention; Puck, Lauren, Finn, Quinn, Mike and Tina were all off doing "couple" things. The other kids were all busy welcoming Kurt back to McKinley, except for Santana, who had vanished almost instantly. Sam felt a little bad that she didn't stick around, but he couldn't help but be glad, too. The last thing he was up for was another round with his ex-girlfriend.<p>

He didn't know why he was in a hurry to get all of his books and leave. Actually he did - he would rather be off somewhere alone than just standing around feeling awkward while everyone caught up with Kurt. Sam rounded the corner of the hall that led to his locker and was confused to see Blaine standing there with his back turned to him. Suddenly an idea began to form in Sam's mind. It probably wasn't a good one, but he would get a kick out of it. Blaine had managed to sneak up on him twice yesterday; Sam decided to see exactly how close he could get to the other boy before he got noticed. He always made up random little games like that to play; it helped pass the time.

Apparently Sam made just as little noise walking as Blaine did because he actually managed to get behind the other boy without being noticed. "Were you visited by the Ghost of Slushies Past?" Sam fought back the urge to groan. Even he knew that was too geeky. He was pleasantly surprised when Blaine cocked his head in his direction and smiled.

"Are you the Ghost of Slushies Present?" Blaine asked, still smiling.

Sam hated that the first place his mind went was that Blaine wasn't playing along with his comment, he was just finding a sarcastic way to call him a big fat giant. "Do you want me to try to convince you to go back to Dalton?"

"No," Blaine answered forcefully. "I did the whole running thing already. Dalton was great, but it was like this little bubble where I could figure out myself and just be me – but it wasn't the real world. Everyone there was nice because they had to be. It was hard to figure out who was genuinely nice. But here… it seems like everyone in Glee is the definition of a frienemy. Well, everyone except you."

Sam cringed when he heard the word "frienemy", he wasn't sure if it was because of his dyslexia or just how stupid those made up words were, but they were very high up on Sam Evans' list of things he hates. "You are like the walking, talking, breathing CW dictionary."

"I didn't take 'Mr. I just want to be liked by everyone' as being an English language snob."

"All those 'let's try to be oh so cool' fake words don't really mix well with my dyslexia. Don't even get me started on those horrible smushed couple names. I have a hard enough time keeping the letters in their right places; I don't need extra ones thrown in." Sam couldn't believe how comfortable talking to Blaine felt. He could say anything and he felt like Blaine wouldn't ever judge him.

"So is that like a secret or something? It's obvious I'm on thin ice with everyone already and the last thing I want to do is risk upsetting one of the few people who actually speaks to me."

"Oh, they already know about that. It was pretty cool nobody called me mentally challenged or retarded or anything. But then I kind of ruined it and started quoting Dr. Seuss." Sam began mentally kicking himself in the head as he opened his locker. He had no idea why he would admit something like that to someone he had only known for one day.

"I'm assuming Santana was out sick that day;" Blaine shrugged.

"She's just been-" Sam actually struggled to find the right word to use. "She's been worse than usual since we broke up, which is kind of weird because it was obvious she never liked me anyway." Right now Sam wanted nothing more than for someone to come by and shove him into his locker. What was it about Blaine that made Sam keep spilling his guts to him?

"For the record, I'm definitely Team Sam in this scenario," Blaine's eyes met Sam's and both boys smiled. "I know I don't know her well, but I'm confident enough to be willing to bet that whatever the reason the two of you broke up, it was most likely her fault. And before you say anything I know how you feel – I promise that will be the last time I bash Santana."

Sam nodded. He really didn't like it when people were talked about behind their backs, even if the person in question seemed to make it their personal mission to make him as miserable as possible.

"Oh, before I forget," Blaine slipped off his backpack, opened it, and pulled out a bag in one swift motion. "Your shirt. Don't worry I had it washed. Seriously, I cannot thank you enough for yesterday. Not many people would have been as helpful as you were."

Sam took the bag from Blaine and placed it in his locker. Before either teen had the chance to say anything, the sound of Kurt's voice repeatedly calling out Blaine's name came blaring down the hallway. It only took a matter of seconds before Kurt was at Sam's locker, trying to catch his breath.

"Blaine, I'm glad you're still here," Kurt said, completely oblivious to the fact that Sam was standing there as well. "Mercedes, Rachel and I are going shopping. They say it's to catch me up on everything that went on while I was gone. But between you and me, it's really so I won't let them buy anything from last season. Anyway, on the off chance that they actually are going to fill in the gaps, I was able to strong arm an invitation for you, too. After a few hours, you'll know absolutely everything. It will be like you grew up with us."

"That could be… fun. Are you going to come, too?" Blaine asked Sam.

"Oh, I'm sure Sam's far too busy for that." Kurt took Blaine by the arm and began pulling him away. "Come on." Evidently Kurt was a lot stronger than he looked because, in the time it took Blaine to wave goodbye to Sam, Kurt already had him halfway down the hall.

Sam sighed as he watched the two boys walk off. It stung a little that Kurt had immediately excluded him, but unfortunately Sam was used to that kind of treatment. He knew that Kurt wasn't trying to be mean; he was just excited to be back at school. Of course he would want to spend time with the people he knew the best. What really bothered him was the fact that Blaine had made an attempt to reach out to him, and it was shot down. Despite the horrible circumstances, Sam actually enjoyed talking with Blaine yesterday and he wanted to have another opportunity to really talk with him.

It wasn't fair. Sam had no idea why it was so difficult for him to make friends. It seemed like no matter what he did, it was always wrong. And now there was finally someone that he felt like he was connecting with, and Kurt swooped in and literally dragged Blaine away. In a way it made sense for Blaine and Kurt to hang out; they both knew each other better than they knew him. Sam knew he should be happy that Blaine seemed to be better off in the friend department than him, but he couldn't help but feel like Kurt had broken into his house on Christmas Eve and stolen all of his presents when he had taken Blaine away from him.

Sam tried to shrug the feeling off because he didn't want to spend yet another day sulking about how screwed up his life was. Sam checked one more time to make sure that he had all the books he needed for his homework before shutting his locker. He grabbed his backpack and headed off in the direction of the gym. He didn't have a plan, but he figured if he stuck around school until Brittany got out of detention, maybe they could still work on their song, or study together or something. Any excuse to spend as little time at home as possible.

* * *

><p>Santana stood partially hidden in the door frame until she was sure that she was completely alone. She could handle running into another student because, if they dared to question her, she would just give them one of her signature beat downs. Teachers, on the other hand, Santana played that one out already. Thankfully, she had been able to pay the teacher off with a blank prescription pad from her dad's office, but she knew she wouldn't get lucky enough that the next teacher she assaulted would be a dealer like Mr. Ryerson was.<p>

Right now all Santana cared about was finding out what Blaine had just given Sam and how she could use that knowledge to benefit her. Sam was easy - despite the unfortunate incident where he managed to grow a backbone long enough to break up with her, all it would take would be a few well-placed mouth jokes to send him back sulking in the corner.

But Blaine... he was different. In a weird way, Santana actually respected Blaine for calling her out in Glee Club, but that didn't mean that she would let him get away with it especially since he had only been at McKinley for all of one day. He needed to be put in his place quickly and, if the process made Sam miserable too, that was just a plus as far as she was concerned.

Normally she would have just busted the locker open, but thanks to Sam's 10-minute rant about how it matched some number code from one of his movies, she already knew the combination. Santana took one more look around before flinging open the locker door and pulling out the bag Sam had shoved in there. Santana stared in to the bag, shocked by what she found. "What the hell?"

She blinked twice and looked back into the bag just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. Inside the bag was one of those god awful shirts Sam always wore. It didn't make any sense why Blaine would be giving that to Sam. The boy had to have better fashion sense than to actually own a shirt like that. That meant the shirt must be Sam's, but that was still a long way from explaining why Blaine had some of Sam's clothes. The fact that he was giving it back on his first day only made Santana more suspicious.

"Bingo."


	4. Chapter 4

Lunch time was an odd experience for Sam. Any other part of the school day he would normally kill to be spending time with people, but thanks to his father, breakfast and dinner were horrible, so he more than welcomed being alone at lunch. He had gotten used to eating alone at school; not for the food, because it was disgusting most of the time, but because he could have a half-hour where he could just exist. He didn't have to worry about disappointing anyone, or mope about how no one paid attention to him.

It was easily one of the parts of the day that Sam looked forward to the most, especially today. Sure, most kids looked at lunch on Wednesday as being the halfway point to the weekend, but Sam didn't care about that. Most of the time it was easier to be at school than home anyway. No, Wednesday was important to him for a much different reason – new comic book day. And since it was lunch time that meant only three more classes before he could go to the mall. He didn't even care that his father would yell at him about it when he got home because, after dinner, Sam always ended up locking himself in his room and staying up far too late reading his new books.

The plan was simple. Just sit outside and build a pyramid out of tots on his tray until lunch was over, try not to make a fool out of himself in English, and get through his other two classes then hightail it to the mall the second that school was out.

"Aren't you a little old to be playing with your food?"

Sam recognized the voice instantly. There was something about Blaine's voice that apparently caused Sam to be thrust back into the real world. It made him wish that the two of them actually had classes together. Hearing the other boy speak in class might make it easier for him to pay attention to what was going on more often, which would make his father happier.

"I've got to get you a bell or something man," Sam said as he watched Blaine sit down next to him. "Seriously, are you like part assassin or something? You're like silent but deadly."

Sam regretted the words instantly. For a moment he closed his eyes tightly. He was hoping that if he squeezed them shut hard enough, when he opened them the entire conversation never would have happened. Based off of the expression on Blaine's face, Sam was positive that he had really just compared the guy to a not-so-pleasant bodily function.

"It's Dalton's fault. Museums are louder than that place. You learn to walk quietly so no one can hear you sneaking into the cafeteria after hours. If you want the really good food, you need to sneak in and grab it before anyone knows it's there."

Sam couldn't help but smile. He didn't know why Blaine wasn't making fun of him for what he said, or making a point of letting Sam know he was offended by it, but he wasn't going to press his luck. "See, I hear that and I think midnight laser tag."

"That would have been pretty cool," Blaine nodded. "Hey, I know this is kind of random, but I just wanted to thank you for the vote yesterday. Wow, okay, I feel like all I do is thank you for things. Forget me being an assassin - you, my friend, are clearly a superhero."

"Dude, you're an amazing singer - it wouldn't make sense to say no." Sam knew he must look like an idiot with the big grin that was plastered across his face, but he didn't care because Blaine had called him "my friend." The fact that Blaine still wanted to get to know him, even after all the dorky things he'd said over the past three days, amazed Sam, especially since everyone else had apparently written him off almost immediately after he moved to Ohio.

"How'd the shopping go?" Sam asked.

"Honestly, it was horrible," Blaine chuckled. "Shopping isn't really my thing, plus I had to buy a bunch of clothes before I transferred, so I am beyond over it. Actually that's why I wanted to talk to you. I need a favor."

Sam felt his heart sink. So that was the real reason Blaine was being nice to him. He didn't want to spend time with him or be friends - Blaine was tolerating him because he needed something. Sam couldn't believe he was stupid enough to think that he could actually have more than one friend. He should have known better and just been happy with Brittany and leave it at that.

"See, the girls and Kurt want to hit the mall again after school and I could really use your help. Kurt doesn't fully grasp the idea that there's a gay guy that isn't obsessed with shopping. Don't get me wrong; it was fun hanging out, but I just can't do it two days in a row. Please say you'll come with us and help me keep my sanity."

Sam couldn't believe his ears at first. Blaine wasn't using him, but wanted his help – he was asking for it instead of just using him. That type of thing just didn't happen to Sam. "I've kind of got plans," Sam could feel the regret in his own voice as he spoke. He wanted to say yes, but he knew if he agreed to go, somehow he'd end up making a fool out of himself and once Blaine had seen how big of a dork he was, Blaine would never want to spend time with him again.

"Come on," Blaine pleaded. "If I see Rachel try on one more sweater with a unicorn on it, I'll go insane. I need you there. Please be my superhero and save the day just one more time."

Sam didn't want to go clothes shopping any more than Blaine did, but he couldn't leave his friend hanging like that. "His friend," Sam really liked the sound of those words together. If he went with them, maybe he would have a chance to talk more with Blaine – now, that would be worth going back to the mall later to pick up his comics.

"Fine, but you have to stop calling me a superhero. It's called a secret identity for a reason. If people find out I used my superpowers to help you carry shopping bags, I'd never live it down."

"Your secret's safe with me," Blaine said, elbowing Sam in the arm.

* * *

><p>The ride to the mall was awkward, but it really wasn't that bad. Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes spent the entire time talking about one thing or another, but Sam didn't feel too out of place because Blaine wasn't talking either. However, that changed once the group arrived at the mall. The trio became a foursome and Sam found himself, for the most part, following them wherever they went and just taking up space. He might as well have been invisible.<p>

"You're not having fun, are you?" Blaine asked.

"This is great, really," Sam lied.

"You have a horrible poker face," Blaine leaned in and lowered his voice. "Follow my lead. I think I can turn this around."

"Um, okay." Sam really didn't want the other three people focusing on him, but part of him really wanted to see what Blaine was going to come up with.

"You're right," Blaine began, his voice getting progressively louder with each word. "Everybody knows that the stores put out their best stuff tomorrow night. Why risk running out of stock before the Friday sales?"

Sam wasn't too sure about Blaine's logic; after all, the one store he wanted to go to only put things out on Wednesdays. Clearly it was one of those concepts that went right over his head, but it didn't matter because what Blaine said got Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes to stop dead in their tracks.

"He has a point. The salespeople will try to make as much room for the new stuff as possible so they'll try to pawn off all the stuff no one wants today," Sam added.

Kurt discretely gave Rachel's outfit a look up and down. "And clearly we all have moments of weakness."

"We could see a movie," Sam suggested.

"Oh hell no," Mercedes shouted. "I came here to shop. If we're not doing that, we need to at least hide all the good stuff for when we come back."

"Well, why don't you three do that, and Sam and I will just hang out? If there's nothing for us to carry, we don't really need to be there."

"Fine," Kurt sighed. "At least now we'll get to try things on. I guess we can meet up at the food court in like two hours."

Sam watched as the girls and Kurt went off in the direction of one of the more trendy clothing stores. He could tell that Kurt wasn't happy that Blaine didn't go with them, and he felt bad about it. He was glad that he had been included in their hanging out, and the last thing Sam wanted to do was upset anyone.

"You can go with them if you want or, you know, if there's somewhere else you want to go, it's cool," Sam said once he was sure no one but Blaine could hear him. "I don't mind being alone."

"Okay," Blaine said, turning to face Sam. "You're starting to offend me with that. Do I have bad breath or something? What's wrong with hanging out with me?"

"I-I just meant that you would probably have more fun if you went with them."

"You know, I keep waiting for this boring, evil, troll-like, jackass version of you that everyone hates and doesn't deserve human contact that you keep talking about to show up. The entire time I've known you, all I've seen is this really selfless and sweet guy that went out of his way to help me on more than one occasion."

Sam had no idea how to react to what Blaine had said. It was quite possibly the nicest thing anyone had ever said about him. "Well, you stuck up for me with Santana."

"Yeah, but if we're going to keep score, I've still got catching up to do."

"You don't owe me anything."

"Fine, but only if you stop acting like me wanting to be your friend is a fate worse than death."

Sam just stood there and smiled; he really didn't know what else to do. Maybe Blaine was right, and he was trying a little too hard to push Blaine away. Sam just wished he knew why. Pretty much everything that he knew about Blaine, which wasn't much at all, left him confused. He wanted to get to know the other boy and be his friend, but that was when things tended to go wrong. Every time he got to know someone they either used or hurt him in the end. Sam didn't want to add Blaine's name to the list of people who did that to him.

It sucked, and Sam felt like he had no one to blame but himself. There had to be something wrong with him. Sure, it was difficult to make new friends in school, especially after your family up and moves to a different state just before the start of the school year, but junior year was half over and Sam had only really made one friend, and that happened yesterday. But Blaine had transferred in the middle of the year and he already had people fighting over spending time with him.

"So what were those plans you mentioned at lunch?"

"You'll think it's stupid," Sam shrugged.

"Yesterday Rachel bought 13carousel horse sweaters. Trust me, whatever your plans were, it can't be worse than watching that."

* * *

><p>"I don't understand why you insist on Blaine spending time with us," Rachel said, as she flipped through a rack of clothing, not really paying attention to anything she found. "He had you the entire time you were at Dalton."<p>

"Kurt's not a puppy, Rachel."

"Mercedes," Kurt began. "I don't think she meant that literally. I just want Blaine to feel like he belongs."

"It is pretty romantic that he switched schools. I give it two weeks tops before you guys are together again," Mercedes said, looking around, making sure that no one was watching her shove a top into the back of the clothing rack she had been looking through.

"That would be great except Blaine's spending all of his time around Sam. Speaking of Sam," Rachel continued without bothering to see if anyone was actually paying attention to her. "Why is he even here? He's never wanted to hang out with us before. He's probably spying on us so he can get back together with Quinn."

"So apparently Rachel has gotten even more insane since I left?" Kurt asked.

"Kurt's right, Rachel," Mercedes chimed in. "First off – you think everyone is a spy, it's some weird thing with you."

"And yet, I'm always right, and no matter how many times I say 'I told you so,' I remain ignored," Rachel said, effectively cutting her friend off.

"Sam is obviously straight, unfortunately," Kurt made sure to say the last part softer than the rest. "So, even if we were in some alternate reality where Sam was this evil little spy who ran around hurting people to get what he wanted, wouldn't it be a good thing for you if he got back together with Quinn?"

"No one deserves Quinn, not even Sam. And that's saying a lot considering he didn't even make an effort to comfort me when Quinn cheated on him with Finn."

"Rachel," Kurt sighed. "You know I love you and that I'll talk you off of that ledge any day of the week, but even you cannot spin it that Sam should have been comforting you when he found out that his girlfriend was cheating on him with your ex-boyfriend."

"Are you saying that as my friend, Finn's stepbrother, or the guy who can't decide on if he has a crush on Blaine or Sam?"

"Will you two just stop it?" Mercedes asked.

"But-" Before Rachel could say anything else, Mercedes covered her and Kurt's mouth with her hands.

"You two are actually fighting over which person you like more. Rachel, we all know you and Finn will get back together, and everyone gave up on that after like the fifth time the two you guys hooked up. Kurt, I'm sure Blaine is a great guy, and I'm happy that you have might have someone if the two of you can ever figure out the timing thing… But really, did either of you consider that I don't want to hear about how 'bad' the two of you have it?"

Mercedes took her hands away and turned, unable to face her friends. "I would kill to have even half of what the two of you do."

"I'm sorry," Kurt and Rachel said in unison.

"Maybe that's why Sam's here – he just wants a place to belong. But even he has it better than me because at least he's been in a relationship. And, in case you haven't noticed, none of us are exactly popular and no one dates outside of Glee Club. Sam seems like a really good guy, and we should be nicer to him."

"He dated Santana. That makes him evil by default," Rachel said, folding her arms across her chest.

"He was also one of the few people who defended me before I left for Dalton."

"Exactly," Rachel threw her hands up in the air. "You're the only one out of the four of us that Sam has had an actual conversation with, so why is he spending all of his time with Blaine? I'm telling you… spies."

"God, I've missed your insanity," Kurt laughed.

* * *

><p>Sam was glad when Blaine went to the second floor with him. He didn't tell him about the comic book store, but it was near the food court, so at the very least if Blaine hated it, they could always sit there and wait for everyone else. Deep down, he knew that he wouldn't be judged by the other boy, but Sam still felt nervous. Finn, Quinn and Santana all seemed nice and trustworthy at first, but they each pulled one over on him, so it wasn't that big of a stretch to worry that it would happen a fourth time.<p>

Still, all Sam thought about on the escalator ride up to the second floor was the fact that the two of them actually had a conversation about superhero comic book movies. It had to be something that Blaine was open to, especially if he sat through "The Incredible Hulk." Sam felt like he had to take Blaine to the comic store if for nothing more than to show him that there was more to the comic book fandom than a horrible movie with bad CGI.

"All right," Sam said once they were standing in front of the store, "so my big plan for the day was to geek out reading comic books. Go on, laugh at me… even Finn did."

"This place is…"

"See, I told you that you'd be better off hanging out with everyone else." There was a tone of sadness in Sam's voice as he spoke.

"Actually, I was going to say this place is kind of cool. It reminds me of when I was younger and going into a store and seeing everything there was like the best experience ever."

"Exactly," Sam brightened up instantly. "Nothing mattered. There weren't any real life problems, or worrying about fitting in or anything. It was just – you walk in and there's this whole world full of awesome right in front of you, and you never want to leave."

"Next time Finn gives you a hard time, let me know, and I'll remind him that I know his dirty little secret." Blaine leaned in and spoke softly, like he was trying to avoid being over heard or something. "I went to Kurt's house one weekend, and he was sitting around in his underwear eating cereal with chocolate milk watching Powerpuff Girls."

Instantly the image flooded Sam's mind and he burst out laughing. "Horrible cartoon choice aside, that doesn't sound too bad. I usually end up working out all weekend. But seriously, I don't think I'll be able to look at Finn the same way again."

"See," Blaine smiled. "This is the Sam Evans I want to get to know. This is what you wanted to do, so show me part of your world."

"'The Little Mermaid' really? Like out of all of the possible animated movies you could quote you pull a song from that?"

"You've seen 'The Little Mermaid?'"

"Cartoon musicals didn't go over well with my dad," Sam shrugged. "I wasn't really allowed to watch Disney movies growing up, but my dad let that one slide for a while. Well, that and Aladdin, but I was like five and had a crush on Ariel so I watched that one more."

"Funny. When I watched 'The Little Mermaid,' it was because I had a crush on Eric. Aladdin was cool though - giant blue genies, flying carpets, magic… and you know he was rocking the shirtless vest."

Sam just laughed and shook his head. He honestly couldn't believe he was having this conversation – that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying it though. "Well, at least you watched it for the right reasons."

"Hey" - if the tone of Blaine's voice was any indication, it was clear that he could tell they were just joking around - "I am proud of having a crush on a street thief who had a monkey and a carpet for best friends. You, you're the one who had a crush on a half fish-woman."

"Mermaids have a reputation of luring men in though. Plus, she was a genuine princess. Aladdin married into money and then you find out two movies later that he was really a prince, too."

"Fine, you win this one. So what can you teach me about comic books in two hours?"

That was all Sam needed to hear. There was a small part of Sam's brain that kept telling him that Blaine was only being nice and humoring him, but at this point he didn't care. He would have had fun at the comic book store alone, but being able to share it with someone and just geek out in the moment and not think about anything else made it that much better.

"Okay, well, you've got your basic eight different categories: super powered heroes, vigilante anti-heroes, zombie books, magic and horror, army stuff, crime, giant robots and finally you've got 'the plot doesn't matter because the star of the title looks like a supermodel and runs around half naked' books."

"Yeah, I think we can skip those when it comes to me."

"Some of them do have a plot though, but you should work your way up to them." Sam didn't want to push the topic and risk Blaine feeling uncomfortable, so he decided to drop it.

"Hey, can I ask you a serious question?" Blaine asked. "I'd totally understand if you didn't want to answer. It's kind of hard to picture you being into comic books… I'm sorry. Can we just pretend I didn't bring it up?"

"The dyslexia right?" Sam didn't need to wait for an answer; it was really the only thing that Blaine could have been talking about that would cause the other teen to word what he had said that way. He didn't mind talking about it with Blaine. In fact, given that Blaine had tried not to offend him or hurt his feelings, it made it that much easier.

"It helps that I'm interested in comics and I re-read them anyway. My dyslexia isn't too bad. If I get frustrated, I can always just walk away from it for a bit. It's really bad if someone makes me read out loud though. I get so nervous that I'll mess up that I usually just make a fool out of myself anyway."

"Thank you for sharing that," Blaine said softly. "For the record, I still think you're too hard on yourself. You found something you enjoy, who cares what people say."

Sam met Blaine's gaze and he couldn't help but smile. "Thanks for not making me feel stupid. I mean, I know I treat it like it's nothing, but that's because I don't want people to act like I'm the village idiot. I always liked comic books; I never grew out of it, and I really do like to read even if it's kind of hard sometimes… so it just fits."

After that conversation, everything felt different. Sam knew he wouldn't feel as comfortable as he did having this conversation with anyone else. There was something about it being Blaine that made him feel safe, like he could trust the other boy with anything. Time flew by as Sam found himself taking Blaine from one section of the store to another, explaining the differences between graphic novels and trade paperbacks and everything in between. It was a nice change of pace, feeling secure in having a conversation with someone else. This was Sam's world, and he knew it backwards and forwards, and Blaine needed him to explain it to him because, for whatever reason Blaine wanted to be there with him. Sure, Sam spent most of the time focusing on trying to make sure Blaine was having a good time than he did actually picking out things for himself, but that didn't matter. It's not like this was the last time he'd ever be in the store.

"Okay," Blaine pointed at the clock on the wall as he spoke, "I feel really bad now."

"D-did I do something wrong?" Sam asked.

"Yeah."

Sam felt his heart sink. He didn't know why, but the thought of letting Blaine down truly upset him. "I'm sorry."

"Calm down," Blaine smiled. "You spent the entire time picking out stuff for me. It's almost been two hours and you've got nothing for yourself, and you're the one who wanted to come here in the first place."

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about that. I always get distracted here, so I had them set up a file for me and they just pull the books I know I want to buy. That way I can spend my time finding new stuff. It's pretty neat - I get the things I know I'll want, and I can test out new stuff and, if I like the book, I just add the title to my file."

After the little misunderstanding was cleared up Sam had the clerk bring him the books from his file and he checked out. He was having fun hanging out with Blaine, but he couldn't wait to get home and read the new books. "You know you don't actually have to get any of those," Sam said when Blaine began checking out with a stack of books himself.

"I kind of do. You spent all this time picking out what you think I'd like, so it would be rude if I didn't get a few of them. Plus, can you imagine how awkward it's going to be if we get dragged back here on Friday and you're telling me all about the books you read and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about?"

"I just figured you guys wouldn't want me to tag along again."

"Are you kidding?" Blaine said after placing his free hand on Sam's shoulder. "Having you along today was the one thing that made it enjoyable for me. If I have to, I'll bribe you with graphic novels if it means you'll come with us next time and I won't have to watch Rachel and Kurt go postal on a sales clerk if they're out of something."

* * *

><p>Sam couldn't explain it, but he was extremely happy after yesterday. He never would have imagined that he would end up actually having a good time with everyone. It didn't matter that he spent most of the time with Blaine. Well, it did - in fact, it made the day better. Sam knew there wasn't anyone else in Glee that would have even gone into the comic book store with him, let alone have fun there.<p>

It had been a little awkward meeting up with Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes at the food court; it made Sam feel like he was being put back in the spot light. He had tried not to space out like he always did, but it was hard. He had such a good time with Blaine and, on top of that, the comic book store was like a natural high for him. If anyone asked he wouldn't be able to say what conversations were had in the food court. All he knew was that he spent the afternoon with someone he really wanted to consider a good friend.

The sound of the warning bell made Sam jump, but not anywhere near as much as he did when he turned around to find Blaine standing silently behind him. "Seriously dude…we need to consider the whole bell thing."

"But you're so fun to scare," Blaine chuckled. "I don't think I have anything that would go with a bell. Maybe I could look into some tap shoes. Oh, hey, I finished 'Kingdom Come' last night."

Sam was a little surprised that Blaine actually read the graphic novel. "What did you think?"

"Honestly, it was a lot deeper than I was expecting. The whole plot astounded me. I totally get why this would be something that you would want to read again. I installed this app that lets you download graphic novels, so anytime you want to recommend something, I'm all ears."

Sam gave Blaine a look like he had just seen someone kick a box of newborn puppies. "You can't do that. Going to the comic book store is like the best part of the entire experience. All the books, the stuff you find that you hadn't even been looking for – just being able to pick the books up and hold them. You can't miss out on that, dude."

"Um, okay. Well, I liked what you picked out for me yesterday; maybe we should just go together again next week?"

Sam was so happy he felt like he was going to start jumping around like a goofball. He couldn't believe that someone had seen his dorky side and still wanted to hang out with him. To top it off, it was because Sam was acting like himself instead of holding himself back. "Cool! So we'll go next Wednesday after school."


	5. Chapter 5

Sam couldn't believe he was thinking this, but he was actually sad that it was the weekend. That meant being stuck at home for the next two days. This entire week had been drastically different than he ever could have expected. He still wasn't sure what to think about Brittany, but an entire week had gone by and she had kept her promise to not let anyone know what his father was like; so at the very least he knew that she was trustworthy. It helped that Sam actually had fun yesterday when they had gone to her house to continue looking for the perfect song for them to perform. He was glad that the two of them were getting closer.

The rest of the week had been nothing short of amazing. Running into Blaine on Monday changed everything. Sam was still awkward and felt uncomfortable around everyone, but he didn't feel as lonely as he did before. Thanks to Blaine, he didn't sit alone at lunch the past three days, and the two of them actually talked when they would run into each other in the hall between classes. Sam wasn't surprised when he heard Blaine calling out to him as he left the music room. What he didn't understand was why Kurt and Mercedes were also chasing after him.

"Um, hey," Sam's eyes darted between the three people staring at him. "What's up?"

"It's Friday," Kurt said.

"Yeah," Mercedes added. "Did you forget we were all going back to the mall?"

To be honest, despite the fact that Blaine had talked about it at lunch today, Sam did wish that he had forgotten about it. Things went so well on Wednesday that Sam knew he shouldn't tempt fate by going with everyone again; he didn't want to risk doing something to mess that up. After all, it was better to have one good memory of hanging out with them than a good and bad one.

Sam was about to say no, but he caught sight of Blaine trying to maneuver himself behind Kurt and Mercedes so his face was clearly visible. Sam wanted to laugh, not because of Blaine's actions, but because he was just barely taller than Mercedes. The few times that Sam could see his face, it was clear that Blaine was either trying to guilt trip him into saying yes, or silently beg him to get him to agree.

"Don't worry, it's not going to be all designer clothes," Kurt said, in a tone that left Sam unsure of whether he was being mocked or not. "Blaine already made us promise that we'd all go see a movie afterwards. I guess it's only fair since its what the two of you wanted to do last time."

"O-okay, yeah, I just need to get my stuff from my locker." Sam didn't know what to think or feel. It was one thing for Blaine to want to hang around him, but it was another thing entirely for Blaine to convince Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes to do something he wanted to ensure that he had a good time. No one had ever done something like that for him before.

* * *

><p>"So I was thinking about songs for our duet," Rachel spoke quickly as she tried to catch up with Santana. "Over the weekend I'll compile a list of songs and we can go through them next week and see if there's one where I don't outshine you too much."<p>

"Hold up," Santana instantly stopped in her tracks. "First off, we're in public, Man Hands. We're not friends, we'll never be friends, so you don't speak to me in public; second I can sing circles around you any day of the week. So let me break it down this one time - neither of us want to spend any time with each other so there will be no trying to figure out our song. I'll give you a list of songs that I'm willing to sing with you, and you pick which one you think you can keep up with me with."

"Well, I suppose-"

"No," Santana cut Rachel off abruptly. "We're done talking, so this is the part of the conversation where you walk away."

All Santana could do was stand back and enjoy her handy work as Rachel walked away. It was fun torturing Rachel, since for whatever reason, the girl kept coming back for more. You would think that after years of insults, she would finally wise up and quit coming back for more. Even Sam had been able to figure out not to keep subjecting himself to her taunts. She still hated that Sam had stood up to her because, as much as Santana hated to admit it, she needed Sam.

She honestly had no idea why Sam didn't understand that it would have been better for both of them if they had stayed together. No one would have ever figured out that she was in love with Brittany, and for the most part, Santana had retained her level of popularity after quitting the Cheerios which would have made Sam's life easier.

Everything was perfect until Sam decided to end things. It bothered her because Santana Lopez didn't get dumped. Ever. She did the dumping. At least he didn't end things and then start dating someone as far down the social ladder as say Rachel.

Of course the boy was utterly hopeless. Sam had been out from underneath Santana's guidance for about two weeks and now all he did was hang out with Blaine, Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel. There was no way he'd ever become popular if all he did was hang out with the kids most of the Glee Club even considered losers.

* * *

><p>To say that going shopping with everyone was an experience wouldn't do it justice. Sam clearly understood why Blaine needed someone to keep him company. If the rest of the guys thought Rachel could be hard to handle in Glee Club, they really should go shopping with her. Watching Rachel, Kurt and Mercedes rip through rack after rack was like watching a real life anime; you couldn't see anything but a cloud of dust and random appendages flying around. Actually, it was pretty fun to watch until one of them accidentally knocked over a display trying to pull something from the back out and all five of them were "asked" to leave.<p>

The next few stores were better, but far more boring. The stores were too loud and crowded to really have any type of conversation with Blaine. It didn't help that practically every five minutes Kurt, Rachel or Mercedes would come running up to the two of them and shoving bag after bag in their hands. All things considered though, Sam was actually having a pretty good time. It still was better than sitting at home all afternoon. Feeling comfortable wasn't something Sam was used to, and unfortunately it didn't last for long.

Once the shopping was over, they had all decided the best way to pick which movie to see would be to vote. The problem was Sam's taste in movies was drastically different from everyone else, and every movie he suggested was shot down by the majority of the group. Eventually they settled on a romantic comedy that Sam had absolutely no interest in seeing. He was a bit of a movie snob; he had no problem admitting it. Yet everyone but Mercedes and himself seemed dead set on watching the movie.

Sam knew that he was taking a big risk of looking like a jerk when he suggested that he skip the movie and hang around in the arcade watching all of their bags. It made sense to Sam though; he didn't want to see the movie and, thanks to Kurt, there were far too many bags to actually bring into the theater with them and no one felt like dragging all of the things out to the car. He was all right when the girls and Kurt thought it was a good idea, but it stung a little when Blaine agreed to it as quickly as he did.

Okay, it more than "stung a little." Despite the fact that Sam had known everyone else longer, he was closest to Blaine. It hurt knowing that Blaine could brush him off so easily. On some level, Sam knew that he was overreacting. None of them had gone out of their way to avoid him or make him feel stupid or unwanted the entire time they had been at the mall, and it was his idea to skip the movie anyway. It just felt odd that he seemed disposable. Sam knew that he was thinking in circles right now. He'd have the entire weekend to sit at home and be miserable - he didn't need to start that today, especially because of a situation that he created. Right now he needed to clear his head the only way he knew how, by saving the world from zombies or aliens.

The arcade had been a good idea. At least Sam was having more fun than if he was watching the movie. He had never liked romantic comedies to begin with; so considering the fact that he had been dealing with not one but two breakups over the course of the past month, so he was no where close to being ready for a sappy love story, hence the mutant space zombies he was currently killing on screen.

"Impressive."

For the first time Sam didn't jump when he heard the now familiar voice. In fact, hearing Blaine's voice brought a smile to Sam's face. "I've had better," Sam shrugged.

"It's still better than what mine would be," Blaine said.

"Mmhmm," Sam really wasn't trying to be rude or to ignore Blaine, but he was still paying on his first quarter. His score might have sucked by his standards, but level 23 and only being down 25 cents was a feat no matter how you looked at it.

"The movie sucked. It's beyond cliché, even for a romantic comedy. Mercedes spent the whole time grumbling about how the movie didn't have enough Denzel, Kurt was crying practically every other scene and Rachel… well, she's Rachel. She kept going on and on about how much better it would have been as a Broadway musical than a movie."

"Awesome," Sam said, still not entirely paying attention to Blaine.

"And then Brat Pitt and Johnny Depp decided to do full frontal nudity for their characters' sex scene. Kurt freaked out so badly that his head exploded all over Rachel's top, and she had to watch the rest of the movie naked. The usher closed off the room and everything. That's why they let me out, so I could call 911."

"Wait… what?" Sam's head instantly tilted in Blain's direction and less than one second later a scream came from the game he had been playing. He didn't have to look to know that his character had just died.

"What?" Blaine asked, looking like he was trying not to laugh. "I just wanted to see if you were listening. I promise Rachel will walk out of the theater fully clothed and Kurt won't be missing his head."

"Well, that's good. It would take forever to get home if Kurt's headless body was driving all of us around," Sam chuckled. It was nice that the comfort level he felt around Blaine hadn't wavered after the movie incident.

"I wasn't kidding about how horrible the movie was though. Next time I'm totally going to back you up with whatever movie you want to see. Unless it's something 'Twilight' related. I'm sorry but the whole sparkling vampire thing is a little too… they just shouldn't sparkle."

"You have no idea how glad I am that you said that," Sam chuckled. "The fact that you understand horror creatures should remain horror creatures and not become star-crossed teen lovers will cut out all the crappy titles at the comic store next week and I can show you the really good stuff."

"So basically taking you into a comic book store is the same thing as taking Kurt shoe shopping."

"Uh, no," Sam smiled. There was something about the way Blaine was speaking that led Sam to believe it was all in fun, and he wasn't trying to make him feel like a dork. "Do you have any idea how many back issues I could get with the amount of money Kurt spent on the cheapest pair of shoes he bought today?"

"Yeah," Blaine said as he picked up half of the bags on the floor by Sam's feet. "Besides, knowing Kurt, he'd only wear them once anyway. At least you'll get use out of your books."

Sam followed Blaine's lead and took the rest of the bags and the duo began walking to the front of the theater. Sam could only assume it was to wait for the others. Sam nodded his head up and down as he followed Blaine, the only thought running through his head was how amazing the past week had been.

* * *

><p>The voting trend continued when it was time to decide where to go for dinner and, once again, Sam wasn't happy when he was out voted, and they ended up at Breadstix for dinner. It wasn't because he had always felt uncomfortable eating in public. No, he hated Breadstix because apparently that's where everything goes wrong for him. It was there that he began his relationship with Quinn, and later found out that was where Santana set her sights on him. Sam didn't want to be at this particular restaurant because he had enjoyed spending time with everyone and was honestly having a good time. He didn't want to risk yet another thing being ruined for him because of Breadstix.<p>

Things had been going well though, so Sam made up his mind to enjoy himself for as long as he could. He still felt incredibly uncomfortable in group settings, but he had managed to loosen up a bit today. Every time Sam began to feel uncomfortable, Blaine would zone in on him instantly and say something that brushed it over quickly. It was like the other teen had an extra sense that went off every time Sam panicked, and he was able to do or say something that would ease the tension that apparently only Sam felt.

He was probably reading too much into it. Blaine obviously didn't have a secret sense, but was just picking up on the little things Sam did because they were sitting next to each other in the booth. He couldn't grasp why Blaine would sit next to him instead of Kurt, or even Rachel, since she knew Blaine better than he did, but Sam was thankful. He knew if anyone else was sitting next to him, he would feel more awkward and self conscious than he already did.

The entire conversation was running smoothly and for once Sam managed to focus enough to actually keep up with it. Of course it helped that for the most part they were rehashing everything that they had done after Glee Club. As soon as the group started talking about shopping, Sam could feel himself slipping from the conversation and, even though he hadn't said much the entire time, he still wanted very much to remain included in it.

"You couldn't be any more wrong, Rachel. That salesclerk was flirting with me. He plays for my team. I'm sorry, but he was just flirting with you to make a sale."

"Kurt, dude, I'm sorry but he was so not in to you." Sam regretted jumping into the conversation the instant everyone turned and stared him down.

"I'll have you know that just because I wasn't your cup of tea, I am quite the catch."

Up until a few seconds ago Sam was actually having a good time. The last thing he wanted to do was unintentionally offend Kurt. Sam's mind was moving faster than his mouth could work, and he needed to fix it.

"No. I didn't mean it like that, Kurt. It's just… I had a sales job for a little while before my family moved here – those jobs are almost always commission jobs and people are more willing to spend money with you if you're like super nice to them. If anything, the guy probably liked Mercedes because he actually treated her like a normal person."

"So-" before Kurt could say anything else, Mercedes' hand was covering her best friend's mouth.

"Kurt, let the boy talk."

Sam could feel his face turn red the longer everyone's attention was focused on him. He hated being the center of attention - this was when he would make a stupid mistake and everyone would either laugh at him or just go back to ignoring him. "I just mean… if your job was to kind of flirt with people, wouldn't you feel awkward doing that with someone you actually liked?"

"After dinner, we should all go back to the mall," Rachel said. "Kurt accidentally bought something that was the wrong size."

"No, I didn't," Kurt protested.

"Yes, you did," Rachel's voice grew louder as she spoke. "And the three of us need to help you return it while Mercedes asks the cute clerk out."

"Fine, but tomorrow you're going to go back there and re-buy whatever I return as late welcome back present."

"Come on, guys," Mercedes said nervously. "We don't have to do it. I don't want to go and make a fool out of myself."

"I… Mercedes, I'm not a jerk," Sam began. "I wouldn't have said that because I wanted the guy to laugh at you. I wouldn't ever do something like that. Everybody deserves a chance to be happy. If I'm wrong and he doesn't like you and he can't see how great you are, he's an idiot."

"Trust Sam, he gives great advice," Blaine said. "Plus if you and that guy date long enough, you could probably convince him to let you use his discount."

Sam sat in silence, taking in the complement Blaine had just given him as he watched Mercedes laugh and playfully slap Blaine's arm causing the other boy to lean up against him to try to avoid the physical contact. The best part of the whole thing was the fact that Sam didn't even feel awkward about the scene. He still felt like he was on the outer fringes of the group, but he actually felt like he was being included.

"Boy," Mercedes said laughing. "You know you're wrong."

"What? Stuff at that store was expensive. There's no rule that you can't get a boyfriend and a 50 percent discount," Blaine stood his ground and joined in on the laughter.

"All right, we'll go," Mercedes said, getting up from the table and giving Blaine one last whack in the arm. "I'll be right back. I just need to call my dad and tell him I'll be late."

Everyone at the table got incredibly quiet when Mercedes left the table. Sam thought it was kind of creepy. He was used to being quiet himself, but he was surrounded by people who were well known for voicing their opinions the second they formed them. There was a small voice in Sam's mind that was telling him it was because they were all about to jump down his throat for what he had said, or something even more irrational. The voice only got louder when Rachel reached across the table and grabbed his arm. Sam smiled when he felt Rachel gently squeeze his arm. He wasn't expecting that at all.

"Thank you for doing that for Mercedes; she needed a pick-me-up. It was really sweet."

"Oh please," said a voice coming from behind Sam, causing himself and Blaine to turn to face it. "There was nothing sweet about it. It was charity at best. Trouty probably wised up and felt bad that out of all the losers at this table, Mercedes was the only one to never get a pity date."

"Hello to you too, Satan - sorry… I mean Santana."

"How many booster seats did the waitress need for the Hobbit so he could reach the table?" Santana asked, completely ignoring Blaine.

"Clearly you're jealous of the fact that I'm here having fun with people I care about and you're the one who is alone at a restaurant on a Friday night."

Sam, Kurt and Rachel's heads all instantly turned to Santana's direction. It was like watching a special on Animal Planet; all that was left was for one of the two of them to rip out the other's lungs and eat them or something. Sam didn't know why the other two were watching this closely, but he did. This was now the second time that Blaine had stood up to someone for him. Sam finally had someone who truly had his back, and it felt amazing.

"What possessed you to ever date her?" Blaine asked after Santana growled and stormed off to what had to have been her table.

"It's a long story," Sam said softly.

"The moral of the story is Quinn Fabray is the reason none of us can have nice things," Rachel said, finishing for Sam.

* * *

><p>There were very few things that Santana Lopez believed in. Actually there were only three things, and two of them were basically the same. The most important thing went along with how she had chosen to live her life: Anything worth having was worth hurting someone for. That one sentence ruled virtually every move she made. Everyone was expendable because, on the way to the top, it didn't matter who you stepped on as long as you never came back down. And that led in to something she liked to call "pre-venge." If done right, getting to someone before they had the chance to get to you could be a thing of beauty. The art of pre-venge went hand in hand with one of Santana's mottos: "That which does not kill you… wasn't me."<p>

She had been on the warpath ever since Brittany had shot her down. It was bad enough that the one time she had actually made herself vulnerable to someone she had been rejected, but for the only person she had ever loved to walk away from her for Artie? It didn't make any sense choosing the kid in the wheelchair over her hot piece of ass. She knew that Brittany wasn't smart, but she honestly didn't believe that the girl could be that stupid.

Nothing made sense to her anymore. She was clearly the hottest girl in Glee, yet at this point Rachel-fricking-Berry had run through as many members of the Glee Club as she had. She had lost Puck to Lauren, which was a thousand times worse than Finn running back to Rachel after he had a taste of her goodness. Brittany was gone and too stupid to realize that she had managed to do what no one else in all of Lima had ever been able to – she hurt Santana before she could be hurt by her. She had even lost Sam, and that confused her almost as much, if not more than the whole Brittany situation.

The boy was a dork. He should have been on his knees praising her for even acknowledging that he existed instead of pouting like a little bitch every time she said something about his enormous lips. She had every right to complain about it since she had been stuck with him. It would have been different if Sam was a good kisser – well, it would have been better if Sam was Brittany – or if he actually gave it up to her. It was almost a ritual; she slept with all of Quinn's boyfriends when Quinn wouldn't, all of them except for Sam. Whenever sex had come up between the two of them the boy acted like some mutant set of teeth would crawl out of her skirt like in that movie he had forced her to watch. The voice in her head was screaming, "Oh God, he's infected me with dork."

It disgusted her how stupid the boy was. At the beginning of the year, everything he did revolved around being popular; he was like the male Quinn. Yet it was becoming clear to Santana that Sam verged on being too stupid to function. He dates two cheerleaders to be popular, but he won't put out, not that she wanted to be with him but she had wanted their brief relationship to look real. And now the dork jumped on the loser boat. Santana didn't even bother to hide rolling her eyes at that one.

"Yeah," Santana mumbled to herself. "Hanging with the biggest losers in Glee Club is gonna make you real popular, Trouty."

It didn't make any sense to her why Sam was suddenly hanging out with that particular group; with the exception of Kurt, none of them had said more than five words to Sam the entire year. There were just too many things that didn't add up and it left far too many unanswered questions. Why did Sam break up with her last week? Why did Kurt's closest friends suddenly become so welcoming to Sam? Why did the annoying little hobbit stick up for Sam? Then there was the whole clothing thing a few days ago, and now the two of them were sitting together at dinner. Nothing made sense.

She was too far away to hear what they were saying at their table, but she was sure it would bore her to tears anyway. She had only come to Breadstix for two reasons: to con her way into a free meal and to figure out how to get back at Blaine for his comment in Glee Club yesterday. Santana gave the others' table one last look and suddenly everything fell into place.

She watched as Blaine leaned in Sam's direction and said something to him that made Sam smile. That didn't make sense to her either; it seemed like it had been months since the last time Sam smiled. Sam was a completely different person and the only thing that had changed was Blaine being at McKinley.

"Holy crap," Santana said a little too loudly as her brain started to connect the dots.

It was something that Santana knew all too well after having to spend the past few years walking the line between displaying her friendship and relationship with Brittany. The big kicker to the entire thing was that Sam was so pathetically idiotic that he probably didn't even realize what was going on between Blaine and himself. A cruel smile stretched across Santana's lips as she began to form a plan. She knew the perfect way to get revenge on Blaine and, as a bonus, she'd get back at Sam for breaking up with her.


	6. Chapter 6

The past few days in Glee Club had been torture for Santana. Rachel kept bugging her about needing to work on their duet; Brittany was clinging to Artie as much as physically possible; and Sam and the hobbit would always sit next to each other and whisper things between the two of them. The entire situation was disgusting. She was surrounded by annoying trolls and happy people, and apparently only she noticed it. Someone needed to be miserable like she was and, if Santana had her say, it wouldn't be long before someone else was suffering.

For the most part she had her scheme plotted out. The entire thing revolved around Sam since torturing him would hurt Blaine. It was just a matter of settling on which angle to go with; of course, collateral damage was fun, too. If she worked everything out right, there might be a way to spin the situation where the entire Glee Club would end up hating Sam, Blaine wouldn't want anything to do with him – which meant that he and Kurt would probably get back together, and Santana figured she should at least throw Kurt a bone – and she would have Brittany back. Of course, the cherry on top would be Artie being alone and miserable, too. It would be perfect; there was just one more piece that needed to fall into place.

The only flaw in the plan was the fact that she had been stuck with Rachel for her duet. Santana had counted on having a nice little talk with Sam right before it was time for her to perform. If Sam squirmed when she sang her original song a few weeks ago, the poor boy would probably pee himself after she spoke with him and then performed. She had found the perfect song to use; now all she had to do was convince Rachel to agree to perform it with her.

It would be easy - all she had to do was find a way to spin it that the other girl would believe that this particular song would prove that she didn't need Finn in her life, which would make Finn want to be with Rachel again.

"Berry, wait up," Santana said calling after her latest target. "We need to talk."

Santana couldn't help but laugh when she saw Rachel instinctively recoil and take a step back. Too bad she needed to focus on her real plan instead of torturing Rachel, but she was sure she'd get another opportunity to torment the girl soon enough.

"There are other people in the hall… witnesses, remember that," Rachel said.

"Oh come on," Santana brushed the comment off. Like having witnesses would ever be motivation enough to stop her if she really wanted something. "I just wanted to talk to you about our duet."

"Didn't you decide that you would just send me a list because you didn't want to be seen in public with me?"

"That's still on, but I found the perfect song," Santana plastered an evil smile on her face as she spoke. "I'm going to send it to you tonight and you can work on it. You'll love it, it's all about how you don't need a man and you can just throw them away when you're done. It's the perfect way to prove to Finn that you don't need him."

"Why would you do that for me though?" Rachel asked.

"Because I'm still mad at Quinn for getting me bumped from head cheerleader at the beginning of the year," Santana shrugged. "And Finn's a stupid boy. The second you tell him that you couldn't care less about him, you'll have him eating out of the palm of your freakishly large and hairy hands."

* * *

><p>The comic book store had been amazing. Well, it always was, but it was different being there with Blaine. When he lived in Tennessee, Sam would always take Stevie and Stacy with him, but it wasn't the same. It was difficult for him to have a good time when he was there with his brother and sister. Stacy would always insist on getting some Betty and Veronica comics or some fairy tale series. Stevie was a little better; he'd be happy as long as the book had a giant robot in it. Their taste in books wasn't the big issue though - he loved his little brother and sister, and he was always happy spending time with them.<p>

Obviously, it was different with Blaine because the two of them were the same age. It helped that apparently they shared an interest in the same books, too. Of course that was probably because Sam kept showing Blaine things that he already liked.

It was a light week as far as new releases were concerned, so Sam spent the majority of the time at the comic store answering any of the questions Blaine asked and explaining how the back issues were sorted. He enjoyed spending time with Blaine, but he also really liked that for once there was something that he knew all about and had to explain to someone else, instead of him being the one that always had to play catch up. Actually, it kind of bothered Sam that Blaine was catching on so quickly. He didn't want their little excursion to be over because it would mean going back home and possibly getting into yet another one-sided fight with his father.

Sam was relieved when Blaine suggested they go for coffee when they left the store. He wasn't a fan of coffee, but he would get a chance to talk more with Blaine and it would keep him out of the house a little longer. Looking at the menu was a struggle; he wasn't sure if it was literally in a different language or his dyslexia getting the better of him, but he couldn't understand anything except the prices.

"I'll have a medium drip and one almond chocolate biscotti please," Blaine said, placing his order once they reached the counter.

Sam gave the menu one last panicked look before finally giving up. "Um, I'll have the same."

Once the barista had turned around to fill their order, Sam looked over at Blaine and shrugged. "My coffee knowledge pretty much stops with 'you put hot water in a cup.'"

"We can go somewhere else if you want," Blaine offered.

"Nah, it's cool. I exposed you to comic books, you're exposing me to scalding hot water. It's a fair trade."

When Blaine suddenly burst out laughing, Sam found it impossible to not join in. He didn't really understand it since what he said wasn't particularly funny; yet, he could tell that Blaine wasn't laughing at him, but at his joke. When the barista returned, their laughing ended as abruptly as it began. On pure instinct, Sam pulled out his wallet and paid for their food and drinks when they were told the total. He picked up the two little plates and handed them to Blaine and took the two cups in his own hands and sat down at the nearest empty table.

When they reached the table, Sam took the seat across from Blaine and handed the other boy one of the cups and took one of the plates from him. He had never had biscotti before, but it looked good – kind of like a long, skinny brownie. With how much extra time he would need to add on to his next work out to burn this off, it had better be good. He was staring at his plate so intently he hadn't noticed Blaine pull out his wallet until he began waving money in his face. "Um, what's that for?"

"You paid for my coffee," Blaine said.

"So, we drove here in your car- it's like gas money or something," Sam continued to stare down the chocolate on his plate. Why did it have to look so good?

Blaine placed the money on the table next to Sam before saying anything else. "No, see, I only let nice guys buy me coffee when they ask me out."

"Dude, you've been here a little over a week – it took me almost a month to even go on an almost-date with Quinn. By this time next month, you'll have so many guys buying you drinks you won't have any time to hang out with me."

"Oh, I won't let just anyone buy me drinks. It's all about quality over quantity."

"Good," Sam smiled, pausing only long enough to take a sip from his coffee. "I don't want you to date a jackass."

"I'll make you a deal: I won't date any jackasses and wait patiently the perfect guy, and you stay away from succubi like Santana."

"Somebody snuck over to the fantasy section when I wasn't looking," Sam laughed. This entire outing was too weird. He was having fun, spending time with the best friend he ever had, and now they were having some weird conversation about who the other person should date. It made Sam feel normal, like he fit in and belonged for once. "You should watch out. Those are usually the books that rely more on the art than an actual plot."

"Well, you'll just have to keep me away from those things."

"Wow, you've been gone from Dalton less than two weeks and you already need a chaperone?"

Sam stared down the scrawny blond who had walked up to their table. Sam watched as Blaine's body language began to change. He seemed too stiff now, like being around this other boy was making him uncomfortable. Not counting the whole Karofsky incident last week, this was the first time Sam had ever seen Blaine thrown for a loop. He needed to know why this kid was upsetting Blaine this much - it wasn't cool.

"Yeah," Blaine said, his voice almost having a beaten down tone to it. "It's such a big world outside of Dalton… it's nice really."

"Things have been different since you and Kurt transferred. Nick actually got a solo yesterday," said the blond Warbler. "Where is Kurt anyway? I thought you guys were… you know."

"Kurt and I aren't seeing each other. We're just friends now," Blaine dipped his biscotti into his cup absentmindedly. "Oh, this is Sam. Sam, this is Jeff. We went to Dalton-"

"Yeah, I picked up on that." Sam wasn't sure why he sounded so angry. Was it because he was having a good time and then this guy, this Jeff, showed up and spoiled it? Blaine was happy before this kid had showed up, and now he wasn't, and that really upset Sam for some reason.

"Sorry, you guys were doing your own thing," Jeff said quickly. "I don't even have time to stay. I just saw you and thought I'd say hi."

Sam was thrown by the look Jeff threw him before he walked away; it was disturbing to say the least. "Whoa, I've gotten nicer looks from Santana. What's his deal?"

"It's… I-"

Sam felt bad when he saw the pained look on Blaine's face. The entire time they had known each other, Blaine had never struggled for words. What had Jeff done to make Blaine react like this? "Hey, it's cool - you don't have to say anything."

"No," Blaine said firmly. "I can talk about it. It just surprised me. Jeff and I – last year we kind of… um, he was quantity over quality."

"Oh," it took a second for what Blaine was saying to fully hit him. "Oh! So he's like Dalton's version of Santana or something?"

"He's not that bad. We both ended up at Dalton at the same time and neither of us were really in the best places. At the school I was in before, I got jumped and beat up pretty bad – like almost needing to be at the hospital bad – all because of the fact that I spent the entire school dance talking to the only out guy at school."

Sam felt his hand under the table ball up into a fist as he angrily pulled at the hem of his shirt. It made him furious that someone as nice as Blaine could have something so horrific like that happen to him. No wonder he seemed so sad when Karofsky attacked him last week. It must have brought back a lot of bad memories.

"Jeff and I bonded and it was nice, but I wanted something more than he could give, and I wasn't cool with it being just physical. It was a mistake, but it was one of those ones that kind of had to happen. He and I are actually good friends now. I guess it just threw me running into him now that I'm starting over at another school."

"Thanks for telling me that." Sam wasn't sure what he should be saying right now, but he felt like he had to say something. "It makes me not feel as bad for dumping my sob story on you when we first met. Not like they are even close to being compared. I mean, your story is like being trapped on the Death Star as it's blowing up and mine's like 'Oh no, I've got a splinter.' I'm sorry… I'll stop talking now."

"What's a Death Star?"

"What? Are you kidding me? How can you not know about Star Wars? There were six movies - sure like three of them were pretty crappy, but still… how can you not get a Star Wars reference?"

"Well," Blaine spoke slowly. "If I'm in a bad mood this weekend, how about you come over and we can do a marathon? It's kind of impossible to be in a bad mood when you're bouncing around all happy. It will definitely cheer me up."

"Yeah, see," Sam smiled. He was glad Blaine was starting to act more like his "old" self now. He hated seeing his friend hurt so much. "The problem with that is now that I know you haven't seen Star Wars, I'll totally force you to watch them no matter what mood you're in."

* * *

><p>Santana was surprised by how easily things had fallen in place. Rachel had been much easier to manipulate than she had expected, probably because neither of them wanted to spend any more time together than necessary. There was only one thing left that she needed to take care of, and that was going to be by far the most fun and easiest part of the whole thing.<p>

The former Cheerio couldn't contain the sparkle in her eyes when she wandered into the music room and found her ex sitting there all alone. It made sense; Sam's social life was pathetic even with all of the time he had been spending with Blaine. Of course he would be the first one ready for Glee Club; he really didn't have anything better to do.

"Hey Sammy," Santana said as she took a seat next to the blonde.

"Um, what do you want?" Sam asked.

Santana was trying her best not to laugh. This was perfect - she had only said two words to him and she could already tell he was petrified. "What? I can't say hi to you?"

"You called me 'Sammy,'" the boy shrugged. "The only time you even come close to using my name is when you want something."

"Well," Santana began. She pulled out her cellphone and angled it so that Sam could see the screen as well. "I got this new phone and I wanted your opinion on the picture quality the camera has."

Santana's eyes were glued to Sam's face as she began scrolling through the photos on her screen. "Like here for example," she pointed to the first picture, which just so happened to be of Sam and Blaine at Breadstix last week. "I meant to take a picture of a group of friends eating together, but I guess I zoomed in too far because all I can see is the Hobbit and Trouty sitting together in a booth, smiling at each other all romantic like."

The panic stricken look on Sam's face was all that Santana needed to know that her plan was working. "See, and this next one," she said, flipping to the next picture. "Again, apparently I zoomed in too far because all you can see is the two of you drinking coffee, and you know people say that coffee is the number one beverage choice for casual dates. You know… I've never seen you drink coffee the entire time I've known you. We never went for coffee together."

"We dated for like two weeks."

"Exactly," Santana powered down her phone. "You've known Blaine for two weeks and he's already at coffee status. By that point in our relationship, I had to practically force you to hold my hand and then you dumped me."

"You were just using me to piss off Quinn, and you made up that Trouty Mouth song and humiliated me in front of everyone."

"Exactly," Santana said throwing back her hair. "And I did those things when I liked you; imagine how big of a bitch I'm going to be since you dumped me. Nobody dumps me; you owe me, Sammy."

"I-I don't understand."

Santana rolled her eyes and sighed. "Of course you don't; you're an idiot. You're going to do me one little favor: break up Britt and Artie. I don't care how you do it - sleep with her, hell sleep with him, roll him off a cliff for all I care. Just break them up or I'll have these photos plastered everywhere and ruin your life."

"Why…. It's just pictures of me hanging out with Blaine."

"Imma break it down for you, Simple Sam. You're at this school for five minutes before you join Glee Club and want to sing a duet with the lady boy, then you move on to dating Quinn. Did you really think that social status ladder climbing attention whore wouldn't run up and down the halls screaming about the promise ring you gave her?" Santana couldn't believe how much she was actually enjoying this. It was a thousand times better than she had imagined. Sam actually looked like he was about to wet his pants.

"But see," Santana continued. "That's where the story gets interesting. She cheats on you, so clearly you weren't fulfilling her needs. Which, to be honest, if you were here last year for the whole baby-gate thing, you'd know she's not picky. Then you and I start dating, and you leave me completely underwhelmed by your lack of game and moves-"

"We dated for two weeks," Sam repeated, shouting this time.

Santana reached out and smacked Sam in the back of his head. Right now he was making Brittany look like a genius, and she didn't have time to hold his hand and walk him through the conversation since they wouldn't be alone for that much longer.

"Hello, I'm a slut. I gets what I wants and I gets gone. I ran through the entire basketball team last year in the length of our 'relationship.' There are exactly four guys in our entire grade that I haven't done it with. I don't do charity so that rules out Artie, and Kurt and Blaine are gay so that's pointless. That just leaves you. Gee, Trouty, I wonder which of those categories you fall in. If you don't do this, I'll make sure people start connecting the dots on how you managed to blow through an easy lay and the former Miss 16 and Pregnant. By the time I'm done, these pictures of you and your brand new BFF will have a whole new meaning."

"Santana, you're insane. We dated. You know I'm not gay. It's just pictures of Blaine hanging out with me. That's all."

"Oh, it doesn't matter what I think, Trouty," Santana shrugged. "Actually I don't really care what anyone thinks of you. But Blaine… he's new, he glues himself to a strapping jock like you…. I wonder how badly the other jocks will react when they learn that Blaine is basically turning you gay. You saw how everyone treated Kurt this year, and they've known him for years. He got off easy compared to what they'll do to the Hobbit."

"Look, I don't care what you do to me," Sam's voice trembled as he spoke. "But Blaine and Brittany are my friends…"

"Ha," Santana laughed. "Let's get something straight here, Trouty: Britt is not your friend. She's only hanging out with you because you got paired together. I snap my fingers and she drops you, and you go back to being the kid nobody pays attention to. Unless you do what I say, I'll make sure that everyone knows that the new and improved Sam Evans didn't actually grow a pair, he's just borrowing his boyfriend's. I wonder how many dumpster tosses and slushies it will take before the Hobbit runs back to Dalton? And the best part – it's all your fault. Do the right thing, Sammy. Pick the first option. At least that way you'll get a little bit of action before you fade back into oblivion."

"W-why would you lie like that? Blaine's a nice guy, and Brittany is supposed to be your best friend. Why would you want to hurt her like that?"

"If I was really that important to Brittany, she would have dumped Wheels the second I was single," Santana shrugged. "Misery loves company. Right now I'm miserable, and I want to be surrounded by so many people that I can't move without stepping on someone's feet."

Apparently Santana had timed everything perfectly because the second she closed her mouth, the rest of the Glee Club began shuffling into the room. She was amused when Blaine shot her a dirty look when he saw that she was sitting next to Sam. For an instant, she debated on just getting up and letting the two of them sit together, but she decided against it. After all, she knew Sam would eventually cave in; the two of them could spend all day every day together if that's what they wanted. She just needed to get what she wanted out of the deal first.

"Okay guys," Mr. Schuester said once everyone had settled down. "Is anyone ready to perform their duets?"

"Berry and I are ready," Santana stood up, roughly pulling Rachel up when she walked by, not even bothering to give her the option of not performing the song today. After all the groundwork she had just set down, there was no way she was going to give Rachel the chance to back out.

"What song did the two of you decide on?" Mr. Schuester asked after taking one of the empty seats among the rest of the students.

"Following your, if I may be so blunt, incorrect assumption that I need to sing less ballads," Rachel began, "Santana and I chose a song that shows all of the teenage girls out there that they shouldn't just let boys walk all over them. It's about women taking back their power-"

Santana rolled her eyes and sighed. She needed to cut off Rachel or she would keep babbling on like this, and it would give Sam to recover from his state of shock. "It's a cautionary tale of what happens when you piss off your ex."

"That, too," Rachel added before the music began.

_I have a heart, I swear I do_

_But just not, baby, when it comes to you_

_I get so hungry when you say you love me_

_Hush if you know what's good for you_

_I think you're hot, I think you're cool_

_You're the kind of guy I'd stalk in school_

_But now that I'm famous, you're up my…_

Santana was actually thankful when Rachel decided to be overtly dramatic and censor herself by covering her mouth at the very end of the verse. She knew that the song was questionable to begin with; she just needed to keep Mr. Schuester from cutting them off before she had the chance to nail her point home to Sam. Once they had managed to get through the chorus, Santana forced her way past Rachel and made a point of staring Sam directly in the eyes. She could already tell that he was clearly uncomfortable, and it wouldn't be that much longer before she pushed him over the edge.

_Whenever you tell me I'm pretty_

_That's when the hunger really hits me_

_Your little heart goes pitter patter_

_I want your liver on a platter_

_Use your finger to stir my tea_

_And for desert, I'll suck your teeth_

_Be too sweet and you'll be a goner_

_Yup, I'll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer_

"Whoa, whoa," Mr. Schuester said, throwing his hands up in the air. "That's way too inappropriate. I expect this kind of thing from certain people, but I'm really surprised by you, Rachel."

Santana didn't bother paying attention to the teacher. Frankly, she barely paid attention to him anyway, but right now her only concern was making sure that Sam understood what was going on. She enjoyed watching him squirm during the entire song, but right now he looked like he was going to throw up. When she saw Sam cover his mouth, jump out of the chair and run for the door, all she could do was smile triumphantly.

* * *

><p>With each step down the hallway, Sam felt more and more nauseous. He had never felt like he was going to throw up as badly as he did right now, and he was honestly afraid that if he started he'd never be able to stop. That song, it was so disgusting and the conversation Santana had with him right before Glee Club – there was no doubt in his mind that she had planned the entire thing. All Sam wanted to do right now was run home and lock himself in his bedroom and never come out.<p>

No one had even bothered to go after him when he had run out of the music room. He couldn't blame Rachel. After all, she had been singing with Santana – at least he knew that Rachel was just singing and not an actual part of Santana's plan… that had to count for something. It didn't explain why Mercedes, Brittany or Kurt hadn't come to check on him. If they were really his friends, why didn't any of them care that something was clearly going on with him? It was always the same. He wasn't meant to be happy or be himself, and the universe was going to keep punishing him every single time he tried.

Sam could hear footsteps behind him and he sighed. He didn't need to turn around to know who it would be; it had to be Blaine. He was the only one in Glee Club that was really his friend. Of course, that was the issue. Apparently the universe had decided that Blaine Anderson was the cause of, and solution to, all of Sam's problems. Blaine was the best friend Sam ever had; he understood him when no one else had even bothered to try.

Why did Santana say she was going to tell everyone that he and Blaine were dating? They were close, and they did spend a lot of time together, but that didn't mean anything. They were friends; that's what friends were supposed to do. Sam didn't understand how what he and Blaine had was any different than Santana's friendship with Brittany; in fact, as far as he could see, it was exactly the same thing.

"Come on," Blaine called out after Sam. "Hold up. Are you okay?"

"I-I just had to get out of there," Sam finally said.

"You know, you really didn't have to take off. I'm about 80 percent certain that Santana wasn't literally going to eat you."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Sam didn't want to turn around because he knew if he did, Blaine would be standing there with that little grin he always gave him and Sam would start to forget about everything that just happened.

"Look on the bright side. Santana's in the music room with everyone else and you're out here free. If we make a break for it, she won't be able to catch up and you won't have to see her the entire weekend. If you want, I can set traps all around my yard tonight so she can't crash the movie marathon tomorrow. I made sure my dad went shopping yesterday and the pantry is packed with food, so we can just relax and watch all six of the movies. Oh… I had him pick up some almond chocolate biscotti, too. It won't be as good as the ones at The Lima Bean, but it was pretty much the only thing I know you're not allergic to."

"Yeah, about that," Sam said as he turned to finally face Blaine. Sam closed his eyes tightly and sighed. This would be so much easier if Blaine wasn't standing in front of him with that insane smile he got whenever he was excited. He hated this so much. He couldn't do what Santana wanted him to, but if he didn't, she was going to tell everyone that he and Blaine were together.

The sad thing was that didn't even bother him. After all, people assumed he was gay because he hung out with Kurt a little before everything went down this year. It didn't matter to Sam because he knew who he was. He couldn't do that to Blaine though. Yes, people knew Blaine was gay, but what would the rest of the football team that wasn't in Glee Club say and do if they believed Santana?

Sam knew he could handle it, but he didn't want to risk anyone hurting Blaine like he had been at his school before Dalton. Sam cared too much about Blaine to ever risk putting him through that kind of thing again, especially when the two of them were only friends. It would be better if he just cut his ties with the other boy now; it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway.

"My dad kind of has a last-minute business trip and he hates paying babysitters, so I'm stuck watching my brother and sister," Sam said, unable to even look Blaine in the eyes.

"Oh. Well, um, if you want, I can come over and keep you company. I mean, the movies probably wouldn't work, but I could help you watch them or something."

Sam could tell Blaine wasn't happy with what he said. He felt like crap. Blaine was his friend and he was clearly trying to cheer him up right now, but that was the problem. He had to make sure that Santana would back off of Blaine. "I'm not really supposed to have anyone over, and Stacy is a huge tattletale so it wouldn't work out."

"You could-" Before Blaine could say anything else, Sam jumped in, cutting him off.

"Look, I know you're trying to help, but I don't feel good and I'm in a really bad mood right now, and I just want to go home. I just want to be left alone, okay? I don't feel like hanging out with you. We spend all our time together anyway – it's weird. You should hang out with someone like Kurt. I'm not like-"

As soon as Sam's brain caught up with his mouth, he wanted to throw up. He had no idea why he had said that. He loved spending time with Blaine; it was like the only good thing he had going on in his life right now. Sam felt horrible. He was trying to protect Blaine from Santana, but what he just said – Santana couldn't have hurt Blaine that much.

"I-I," Blaine's voice was so low it was almost impossible to hear even though the hallway was empty. "I guess I finally met the 'Sam' that you kept talking about. I can see why that Sam didn't have any friends."

"Blaine, I-"

"Don't worry. I won't crowd you anymore."

Sam stood there quietly as he watched Blaine storm off. He could tell that the other boy was mad at him, and he had every right to be. Right now, Sam was even mad at himself. He wanted to run after Blaine, to grab him and tell him he didn't mean what he said, and tell him about what happened with Santana before Glee Club, but he couldn't. It was bad enough to see the pain in Blaine's eyes the first time. Sam knew it made him a coward, but he couldn't stand to see that look again.

He had never felt anything like this before. Sam didn't even remember feeling this bad when he found out Quinn was cheating on him. He knew he needed to think up some way to fix the mess he had just made, assuming that was even possible. He just needed time and maybe some help. The only problem was Sam had not only thrown the one person who would have helped him under a bus, but he threw the bus off of a cliff after that. Sam closed his eyes and let out a scream. A few seconds later, he felt his fist connect with a locker door.

* * *

><p>Authors note: Sorry it's been so long since my last update. The fact that Chord was let go and Sam would just be gone really didn't help my desire to write. Thank you for everyone who has reviewed so far. This story is clearly far from done, especially with my latest cliffhanger. Thank you all for sticking with me, and brighter days will come in this fic soon. Sam's too adorable to keep miserable for long.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

Blaine Anderson had always considered himself to be a very good judge of character. However, there was a big difference between knowing how to read people and falling for the right people. The former Warbler had a horrible track record when it came to his crushes, and apparently it wasn't getting any better the older he got. There was the Sadie Hawkins dance incident. The big cosmic joke was Blaine didn't even really like the guy; it was just the fact that he was literally the only other out guy in school, and Blaine had just come out to his father and he wanted to be anywhere other than home that night.

Blaine didn't really have anything in common with the other boy, but it was nice to feel like he wasn't alone for the first time. The other boy was so different than him, so confident and sure of himself; just being able to see someone like that who had gone through what Blaine was going through gave him hope that, in the end, things would at least get better with his dad. He knew he didn't have any romantic feelings for the other boy; all Blaine really wanted was just someone to talk to about everything that was running through his head. That night changed everything.

Right after that, his father enrolled him in Dalton and he met Jeff. Blaine had meant it when he told Sam that Jeff was a mistake that needed to happen. He had learned so much from what they had, and he could tell that maybe there was still a spark between the two of them – but he couldn't go back to that. It wasn't Jeff's fault at all, but that time period for Blaine was toxic, and he didn't want to risk going back to that ever again. He was glad that they ended up being friends. Being able to get through Jeff helped Blaine grow to become more sure of himself and what he wanted, but he still had no idea how to go about making sure it happened.

Things didn't get any better with Blaine's misguided crush on Jeremiah; looking back on it, he knew it was just unrequited puppy love caused by the future potential of discounted clothing. He was upset about how it played out though. It was the first time he had honestly tried to put himself out there after what happened with Jeff the year before. When it happened, deep down he was more concerned with not being able to show his face in the mall any time soon than he was that Jeremiah didn't return his feelings. It might have made him a little bit shallow, but so what - Blaine was man enough to admit it. He did feel bad that the older boy had lost his job, but he mourned the potential lost visits to The Lima Bean more than the lack of contact with his crush. Okay, maybe shallow wasn't the right word. In that instance, selfish would have worked better.

For a while Kurt had joked around with him about it, telling him: "You should have waited until you bought everything you wanted in the store first. Fashion has no sympathy and it waits for no man."

Kurt… Kurt was another bag of worms all together. He had been so wrapped up in his infatuation with Jeremiah that he had completely misread Kurt's actions as friendship, when ultimately Kurt wanted much more. It took a while for the two of them to get their timing right, but eventually they both decided to take a chance and see what was going on between them.

The two of them being together wasn't something that came easily. They never really could quite figure out where the line between romance and friendship was. Blaine considered himself a hopeless romantic, but for some reason any time Kurt had done something, all Blaine got was a friendship vibe from him. The reverse was true, too. Any time Blaine tried to do something romantic, Kurt just assumed he was being silly and making a joke. It didn't help that Kurt constantly looked to Blaine like he had a better grasp on the situation than he did. The reality of it was that they both were basically in the same place - neither of them had ever had an actual boyfriend.

Their real differences started to show when they opened up about their mutual brief flirtation with the female population. Granted, Blaine had only kissed Rachel twice – and the first time was during a game of spin the bottle, so that didn't technically count – whereas Kurt had almost had sex with Brittany. It hurt when Kurt had made the comments about bisexuality that he did. It didn't make any sense to Blaine since he had only kissed a girl while Kurt had almost slept with one. Of course, the gap that was growing between them only got bigger when Blaine had been honest and told Kurt about how he had gone much farther with a guy than Kurt ever did. Ultimately, they decided that they just worked better as friends and left it at that. Surprisingly, it wasn't awkward at all. They fit together just as well as they always had. In fact, removing the possibility of a romantic pairing seemed to make the two of them work better.

And then there was Sam. The past few weeks had been weird. At first Blaine thought Sam was going to jump him – and not in the good kind of way – but after their initial misunderstanding, they seemed to have patched things up. Sam had been there for Blaine to help him pick up the pieces after he had been slushied, and that was where their friendship had started to bloom. Blaine had gotten the impression that Sam was the kind of guy that couldn't help but help people. He was one of those white knight, tortured soul types that sent Blaine's heart through the roof. Of course, it didn't hurt that Blaine had thought the muscular blond was hot when he had seen him perform for the first time at sectionals.

Blaine knew he was doomed when the two of them actually began spending time together. There was just something about Sam that he couldn't put his finger on. There was so much sadness in the way he carried himself, but when Blaine could connect with him, it all changed. It had been a struggle to bring the other boy out of his shell, but it was more than worth it when he got to see the adorable, selfless, dorky guy who had a smile that could light up a ballpark if he'd only find a reason to smile. Initially, Blaine had felt bad for neglecting Kurt and his other friends, but there was just something about spending time with Sam that he couldn't pass up.

Of course, that's when everything went wrong. Blaine knew he could be a little too forward for his own good most of the time, and that he probably should dial back the not-so subtle flirting he had been doing with Sam – but it was difficult. It was actually cute because Sam really had no clue that the two of them had been flirting. Everything was fine until last week. Every time Blaine replayed the scene in his mind, he had to fight back tears. What happened that turned the sweet boy, who had helped him when they first met, into the monster that said they couldn't be friends because he wasn't "like him"?

The past few days had been incredibly difficult for Blaine. His entire routine had to change yet again, just to cut Sam out. Lunch time was the worst though. He didn't mind sitting with Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes, but every day all that ran through his mind were the conversations he would have with Sam; lunch was just lunch now, ever since their fight. Blaine would just sit with everyone else and completely ignore everything his other friends were talking about. Every once and a while, Blaine's eyes would dart around and he would find Sam sitting alone, just staring at their table, and what little appetite he had would vanish.

For once, Blaine was thankful that the two of them didn't share any classes. It was hard enough avoiding his former crush at lunch time and in Glee Club; he didn't think he could handle trying to avoid him in class, too.

The duet he was singing with Kurt for their Glee Club assignment was the only thing Blaine had to distract himself from his current situation. When they did perform, it didn't go well. All Blaine could focus on was Sam's reaction. Everyone else was watching the two of them, but it seemed like Sam was going out of his way to look in any direction but his. Blaine was so distracted that he found himself missing the steps he and Kurt had worked on, as well as some of the lyrics. He knew Kurt would kill him for it, so when Mercedes pulled him aside right after Glee Club had ended for the day, saying she needed his help with a problem, he jumped at the chance. It wouldn't fix his issues, but at the very least it would keep Kurt from running him into the ground today.

"So," Blaine said, absentmindedly stirring his coffee. He didn't know why he suggested they go to The Lima Bean. He hadn't gone back since the fight with Sam last week. Being there now only reminded Blaine of that hurt. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see what's going on before Kurt goes off on you for messing up your duet today."

"It was that obvious?" Blaine asked nervously.

"No song in the world has the word 'tomato' in its chorus. Your mind was clearly somewhere else."

"I just haven't been feeling well."

"Maybe you caught whatever Sam had last week," Mercedes shrugged. "Oh God, don't let Rachel find out. The girl will come to school in a full body hazmat suit. Don't look at me like that! I love the girl, but she's crazy."

Blaine flinched at the mention of Sam's name. The situation was bad enough as it was; he didn't need anyone else bringing it up. "That must be it."

"It makes sense. I mean, the two of you spend a lot of time together. If one of you gets sick, it's only a matter of time before -"

"Can we not talk about Sam?" Blaine blurted out.

"Hah," Mercedes let out a laugh as she banged her hand on the table. "I knew you had a crush on the boy. It's like a right of passage to crush on Sam. So, why haven't you guys been hanging out like you used to?"

Blaine was torn. He didn't want to talk about what was going on, but at the same time if he did ever need to vent, his options were really limited. He couldn't talk to Sam for obvious reasons, and it would have been awkward talking to Rachel since they kissed, plus Blaine knew he wouldn't feel right talking to Kurt about it either. It was all too complicated, but he knew that letting it build up wouldn't end well.

"I, um, we got to talking about our exes and one of mine showed up and things got a little… flirty. It – I guess it freaked Sam out, and yeah, we just stopped hanging out."

"I'm sure you're overreacting," Mercedes brushed of Blaine's comments like they were nothing. "He probably is still upset about the whole Quinn-Santana mess. From what Kurt said, when Sam found out he had a crush on him, too, Sam was a total gentleman about it. I think Kurt said he was 'honorable' or something like that. Sam Evans doesn't have a nasty bone in his entire body."

Blaine sighed. He might as well tell Mercedes everything now. There was no point in coming this far and not following through. "We were going to do a movie marathon at my place, but he needed to watch his siblings and so I offered to come over and help him… He said I shouldn't go to his house, and that it was weird that we spend so much time together," Blaine's voice began to crack, getting softer with each passing word. "H-he said we should stop hanging out, a-and that he wasn't 'like' me…"

"Blaine -"

Blaine pulled away when he felt Mercedes squeeze his hand. He didn't mean for everything to come out like it had, but it was too late to do anything about it now. He quickly jumped up, grabbing his cup and began to leave. "I haven't told anyone else. Please don't say anything, okay?"

"Hey, I can keep a secret."

* * *

><p>For what felt like the first time in Sam's short life, he had spent less than ten minutes in the comic book store. The second Sam set foot into the store, all he could think of was how much fun he had there with Blaine over the past two weeks. It had sort of become their thing and, even though they had only gone twice, Sam felt weird being there without the other boy now. He only stayed long enough to pick up his books and leave; it was just too much for Sam to take. It was like the entire experience had been ruined, and he didn't even have the desire to read any of the books he just bought.<p>

He was glad when he had gotten the text from Mercedes asking him to meet her at The Lima Bean. Sam knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy anything right now, but at least it was better than going home. He made quick work of ordering his drink, a medium drip, just like last time, and found Mercedes at a table. He'd be lying if he said the look she was giving him didn't have him scared - he was honestly afraid to find out what she wanted to meet with him about. The only other time Sam had ever seen her this angry was when Karofsky tormented Kurt at the beginning of the year.

"Hey," Sam said as he took the empty seat across from the clearly pissed off girl.

"Don't you 'hey' me, boy," Mercedes said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Umm," Sam let out a nervous chuckle. "Why are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?"

"Don't play stupid with me. I know what you did, Sam Evans."

"Okay, seriously, I have no clue what you're talking about. If you just wanted to yell at me for no reason, you're kind of wasting your time. I've got plenty of people who have reasons to yell at me."

"I bet. It's easy to yell at someone 'like you.'"

Sam began choking violently on his coffee. There was no way Mercedes could have known what she said… could she? It just had to be a coincidence that would lead to one of those tragically funny headlines in the news: "Teenage boy's life cut short due to drowning in a coffee shop – tune in at 11 p.m. for all the details." The sad thing was Sam knew that was better than he deserved at this point.

"Mmhm, that's what you get. You can't help who you're attracted to, but I really thought you of all people would have found a more tactful way of letting Blaine down. You didn't need to be a jackass and break his heart."

Sam's eyes darted around anxiously. He knew everyone had watched him when he started to choke, but he couldn't help but be paranoid and think that they could hear the conversation word for word. "What do you mean?"

"You honestly had no clue that Blaine had - and judging by how sad he's been acting lately, still has - a huge crush on you?"

"What?" Sam felt like his cheeks were on fire. "Blaine doesn't… he liked me?"

"He did, but then you had to be an ass about it, which I still don't understand. It's not like other guys haven't crushed on you before."

"I-I didn't know. Come on – you know I'm not homophobic or anything like that. I didn't mean to say something like that."

"Yeah," Mercedes' tone was finally beginning to lighten. "The real question is, if it really was just a misunderstanding, what are you going to do to fix it?"

Sam didn't know what to say. He knew that he hurt Blaine with what he said, but he had no idea that the other boy had a crush on him. Was that why Blaine had spent so much time with him and gone to the comic book store? Had they ever really been friends? This new knowledge only made Sam feel worse. There had finally been someone in Sam's life that had genuinely cared for him, and all he had done was manage to screw it up and prove that he didn't deserve anything good at all. Sam had finally gotten a taste of what it felt like for someone to accept him for who he was, and how good that could feel and now there was no chance of getting that back with Blaine.

"He won't even talk to me," Sam's voice was soft when he spoke.

"That's because people get stubborn when someone they like hurts them. If Blaine won't talk to you, then you need to figure out a way to prove to him that you didn't mean to hurt his feelings. But to do that, you're going to need to figure out why you said it in the first place. And you know I've got your back since you helped me out last week, but you need to fix this. It's bad enough I have to lend an ear to Rachel and Kurt's freak outs - I can't add you and Blaine into the mix."

* * *

><p>There was no other way to describe it: Sam was miserable. Even now, sitting in Brittany's room, which was far too cheery considering his current mood, wasn't helping him any. He knew that the two of them needed to work on their duet, but he couldn't keep his mind from wandering to the conversations he had with Santana, Blaine and Mercedes. He still had no idea what to do about any of it.<p>

Sam knew he could never go through with breaking Brittany and Artie up – it just wasn't the kind of guy he was. But on the other hand, Sam didn't think he could ever say anything as hurtful and nasty as he did to Blaine. All Sam wanted to do was protect the one real friend he had. In fact, he didn't want to hurt Blaine at all. And then Mercedes said that Blaine had a crush on him. Sam knew that couldn't be true; there were a ton of other guys that he would have a crush on before him. He couldn't think of a single reason why Blaine would even want to like him that way.

The fact that he couldn't get his mind off of the whole situation bothered Sam. It didn't help that the only thing he could focus on was the fight they had. If he had to keep replaying a scene in his mind, why couldn't it be one of the good times he had with Blaine? Why did it have to be what was quite possibly the worst thing that happened to him in the past few months?

"I'm sorry I keep spacing out," Sam sighed as he absentmindedly strummed the guitar in his hands. "I'm not going to be able to focus today. I've just got a lot of stuff on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Brittany asked, placing the guitar Sam had brought over for her to use on her bed. "I'm not really good at talking, but I'm a good listener. Sometimes I don't even know when I'm doing it."

The problem was Sam didn't know what he wanted right now. He didn't want to talk about what was going on because honestly the situation was so horrible he didn't even want to admit it existed. Yet, there was no way he could fix what happened with Blaine on his own, let alone deal with Santana. Sam knew he needed help and, after the incident at The Lima Bean, he knew he had to do something quickly, at least for Blaine.

"Why are you friends with Santana?"

"I dunno," Brittany said. "Why are you friends with Blaine?"

"Blaine is nothing like Santana," Sam said through gritted teeth.

Sam couldn't believe that anyone would compare Blaine to Santana. All Santana ever did was make fun of him and hurt everyone. Blaine was so different than her. It was like the other boy went out of his way to always make sure he felt comfortable and like he belonged. Sam couldn't explain the way he felt when he was spending time with him. Blaine had never made him feel stupid, even when he said something he knew the other boy didn't understand. When he spent time with Blaine, it was like all of his insecurities and problems just melted away and he could just be himself and be happy. Sam had never felt anything like that in his entire life, and he wanted it back. No, it wasn't just about wanting that feeling back - he needed it back. He needed Blaine.

"Blaine… he's a great guy. He just wants everybody to be happy. Santana isn't your friend, Brittany… She's a bad person, like old school movie, mustache twirling villain 'bad.' Santana makes my dad look like a decent human being."

"People just don't understand her. She's always been really nice to me. She used to yell at kids when I'd pull my dress up over my head when I'd use the monkey bars."

Sam sighed. All he wanted to do was to grab Brittany and shake her until she could focus on what he was saying. "Well, Santana isn't the same person she was at recess in kindergarten."

"Umm, the monkey bars happened last week."

"Brittany, please… just focus for like one minute, okay?" Now Sam was even more frustrated. He wasn't trying to be mean, but he really needed this to sink in with Brittany so she could help him. "Santana isn't your friend, and she is not a good person. She wanted me to convince you to cheat on Artie so he would leave you."

"Oh…" Brittany's voice trailed off.

Sam couldn't tell if Brittany's pause meant that what he said was sinking in, or if she had stopped paying attention again. He hated having to be the one to tell Brittany about the type of person Santana really was, but he couldn't let Santana ruin anyone else's life. "If she were really your friend, she wouldn't try to rip you away from someone who cares about you and makes you happy just because she wants you to be miserable and alone like she is."

"How do I know you aren't trying to trick me?" Brittany asked.

"When you first met my dad, I asked you to keep what he was like a secret from everyone and you did. I trusted you, and you're like the only person in school who hasn't let me down. I-I just need you to believe me and trust me, like I trusted you."

"Pinky swear?" Brittany asked.

Sam reached out and wrapped each of his pinkies around Brittany's and gave them a squeeze. He thought it was weird the first time they had done it a few weeks ago, but it clearly meant a lot to Brittany and, if doing it again would mean that she believed him, he had no problem with it. "Double pinky swear."

"Why did she want you to do it?" Brittany asked, after a pause that was long even for her.

"She's still mad that I broke up with her, and she wanted to make me miserable, too. She said if I didn't break you guys up, she'd tell everyone that Blaine switched schools because we're secretly dating or something."

"It makes sense," Brittany shrugged. "Blaine totally has a crush on you. Even I can see it."

Sam just shook his head and chuckled. Why had everyone but him apparently seen that Blaine had a crush on him? If one more person said that, Sam knew he should just start believing he was as dumb as everyone thought he was. He thought after everything he had gone through with Quinn and Santana that by now he would be able to tell if someone liked him or not. Apparently, he still needed to work on that skill.

"Why do you think Blaine has a crush on me?" He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted the answer to that, but ever since Santana had spoken with him, it seemed like every conversation anyone had with Sam revolved around Blaine having a crush on him. With how frequently it kept coming up, he knew there had to be something to it after all.

"He looks at you the way Finn looks at Rachel when she sings. Like he really likes you and just wants to be with you and only you… and that he wants to eat a sandwich."

"This might sound really weird right now, but – how did you figure out you liked Artie?"

"It was easy," Brittany said, looking into Sam's eyes. "Once I was sure he wasn't a robot. I was confused because it's like your little brother's toy that starts out as a motorcycle and ends up a giant robot – I thought he was still transforming."

Sam couldn't help but sigh. He genuinely cared for Brittany and he thought it was cute when she got sidetracked, but right now he really needed a direct answer. He couldn't explain it, but for some reason he really needed to hear her answer. "Brittany, this is really important, okay?"

"Sorry," Brittany said softly.

"It's my fault. I'm just in a bad mood and I'm taking it out on everyone."

"I know I'm stupid and weird, and I say really dumb things that make people not want to talk to me… but Artie doesn't treat me like it. I don't feel like an idiot when I'm with him. He can be really funny, he's smart and he doesn't make fun of me when I forget how to go home. He's the first person who really treated me like I mattered."

"But those are the kind of things that you can feel around friends. I mean that's kind of like us. I don't feel stupid when I say weird things around you. How did you know that what you felt for Artie was… more?"

"When you first joined Glee Club I did something that hurt him. He was super mad at me; he wouldn't even look at me or talk to me. I didn't even know what I did hurt him, but it made me feel awful that he could hate me. I know I can be mean sometimes and not even really know it, but it just felt wrong hurting Artie."

Sam sat there and let Brittany's words sink in. It was like she was describing what he felt when he spent time with Blaine. It was finally starting to connect in his brain. He was a completely different person around Blaine, and he felt like crap now that he had hurt his best friend. Nothing mattered when they were together because Blaine was the first person he had ever felt safe around. Sam began nodding his head up and down frantically - he knew that he must look like an idiot but it didn't matter. He needed to work through this and, if he didn't do it now, he'd never work up the nerve again.

"That's how it is when I hang around Blaine." Sam let out a deep breath before continuing. "I-I think I like him… like more than a friend…"

* * *

><p>Authors note: It's been really hectic, and I lost my beta and I've been on this emotional roller coaster with Glee recently, but I do have the next chapter half written already and lots more plotted out, so it shouldn't be too long between updates.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Sam was exhausted; the entire week had taken a lot out of him. Last night had been different though. Talking with Brittany was draining, but when Sam had come to the realization that he might have feelings for Blaine it was like a weight had been lifted from him. It didn't do anything to solve any of the problems that he had, if anything it made the whole situation with Blaine that much worse. In a way it made sense to Sam, he said those awful things to push him away to protect the other boy. But at the same time, saying those things had been the most heart-wrenching thing that Sam had been through in years. He hurt someone that cared about him, someone that he was discovering he cared a lot about too.

Those were the types of thoughts that had kept Sam awake for the majority of the previous night. Sam found himself replaying all of the time he had spent with Blaine since the other boy arrived at McKinley. It was so easy for Sam to open up to Blaine, the time they spent together were basically the best times Sam had in years. He didn't know the right words to describe what he felt when he would say something so random and geeky that he knew he should expect to be made fun of; but Blaine would just look at him, smile and just get it. It still didn't really make any sense to Sam.

Sam was confused; he knew that Blaine meant more to him than just being his best friend – there had to be. Thinking back on everything there was clearly something there. The way he couldn't help but grin like an idiot every time Blaine would smile at him, the way it felt completely natural when they would touch, how angry he got when Blaine had told him about being beaten up and how Sam wished that he had been a part of the other boy's life back then so that he could have done everything in his power to protect him. The worst was the amount of guilt that Sam felt over knowing how badly he had hurt Blaine.

Sam didn't just think of Blaine as a friend, no, there was definitely something more there. He liked Blaine, and each time Sam had thought about it the words came easier to him. And now he couldn't even think the words without smiling. Fixing things with Blaine had to be his priority, even if the thought of speaking with the other boy terrified Sam more than anything. He panicked when the first warning bell went off, he had tried to get to school early enough to beat Blaine to his locker so they could talk, but now he was afraid that he hadn't gotten there soon enough. He had to have beaten Blaine there, the soonest he would even have another chance to talk to the other boy would be at lunch, and Sam didn't want to wait that long.

Sam felt his cheeks flush when he saw Blaine come around the corner and start to head down the hallway. He knew this wouldn't be easy having this conversation, but he guessed that it would be like pulling off a band aid – it would be better to do it right away instead of having to wait a few hours for his next chance. "Hey," Sam said once Blaine had reached his locker.

"You're in my way."

"Yeah, um, I know, I just really need to talk to you – it's important," Sam wasn't surprised by how Blaine was acting, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

"Can you move, I need to get my books."

"Blaine," Sam moved out of the other boy's way. He didn't want to give him one more reason to be angry. "I really need to talk to you, please? Just give me like two minutes. I won't be able to explain everything, but I think I can say all the really important stuff."

"No," Blaine's voice was so low it was difficult to hear over the noise in the hallway. "You said more than enough last week. I thought we were friends, that I-. I was wrong, and I've been through too much to stand by and wait for you to use me as a punching bag again, even if it's only a verbal one."

Every fiber of Sam's being was screaming at him to just tell Blaine the truth, even if he didn't want to hear it. It was killing him to see his friend in so much pain. He couldn't undo the damage he caused, but those four words would change everything: 'Blaine, I like you.' All he had to do was say it and if he did Blaine would have to talk to him, there was no way he could avoid it.

"Blaine… I-I…"

"When those three guys were beating the crap out of me, I was down on the ground and one of them kept kicking me in my stomach…. The whole time he was yelling at me: 'why can't you be like us?' I had strangers telling me I needed to be different, that I was wrong and that meant they didn't want me around. I never imagined hearing that from someone I thought was my friend."

"I am your friend! I'm… I made a mistake, I'm sorry. Please just let me-." Before Sam could say anything else the final warning bell went off and the hall began to empty.

"I'm not doing this again. I didn't think you'd be like that Sam, I thought you'd be better."

"I-I…." Sam didn't know what to say. Actually he didn't feel like saying anything now. Without knowing it Blaine had struck a nerve with him and it hurt. Probably not as much as what Sam had said hurt Blaine. In an odd way Sam thought it made them even, not that being even was something to be proud of.

"You better go to class Sam," Blaine said once the hallway was finally empty. "Think of all the rumors that would run around school if you show up to class late the same time someone like me does. The jocks probably won't let you in the locker room anymore."

Sam watched silently as Blaine stormed off. He couldn't blame the other boy for being so upset, but that didn't mean that what the dark haired boy had said didn't hurt. Right now Sam just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. He hated himself so much in this moment that he thought he was going to actually be physically sick. "I like you," Sam whispered as Blaine turned the corner and walked out of sight.

* * *

><p>The day had been going horribly so far, even by Sam's standards. In between almost falling asleep in English Sam had spent the rest of that period trying to sink as low in his seat as humanly possible just to avoid the death stares that Mercedes had been sending his way whenever the teacher wasn't looking. That had been the theme of Sam's morning classes: crippling fear and depression. And the worst part was that Sam knew he brought it on himself. Sam wanted nothing more than to just give up on everything and go home. His dad was bad but no where nearly as bad as what was going on here.<p>

Sam sighed and stabbed at the fish sticks on his plate with his fork. He lost all desire to eat when he saw the other members of Glee Club sit down together at their own table away from him. Eating alone wasn't an issue for Sam, but he could feel Santana and Mercedes' eyes on him, judging every move he made. And then there was Blaine. When the dark haired boy joined the others, Sam wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He couldn't look at the other boy without Blaine's last words to him repeat; over and over in his head.

"You mind pulling out that chair?"

"Hunh," Sam knew he must have been zoning out again because he honestly had no idea that Artie had been right next to him. Despite everything going on, Sam was actually glad for the company. At the very least it would provide enough of a distraction to keep Sam from spending the rest of lunch staring at Blaine only getting more depressed than he already was. Without giving it another thought Sam, stood up, pulled the chair away and took Artie's tray from his lap and placed it on the table next to his.

"Thanks," Artie said as he maneuvered his wheelchair up to the space Sam had opened up for him. "You look like a zombie, stay up all night playing Halo again?"

Sam squeezed the plastic utensil so tightly in his hand that he could feel the plastic begin to crack. Of course Artie would find some way to indirectly ask him about the exact thing he didn't want to talk about. "Don't you usually sit with everyone else?" Sam knew he sounded like a jackass and he regretted it instantly. "Sorry man, I'm just in a bad mood."

"It's cool," Artie shrugged. "It's a better greeting than I would have gotten at the other table. I try to avoid Santana on fish stick day. Last month she 'suggested' that I cut off my legs, chop them up into little sticks, fry the pieces and sell them as fish sticks to the school and use the money to get a decent haircut."

"What is it with Santana and cutting off body parts? Rachel's nose, your legs, my mouth; she's like a –"

"Super villain in the making," both boys said in unison.

"Yeah well, you broke up with her she's got a reason to be mad at you. Not that I agree with it," Artie added quickly. "She hates Rachel because, well, I'm not entirely sure and I have no idea why she's always hating on me."

Sam really didn't want to talk about Santana with anyone, let alone with Artie. He knew that he wouldn't be able to have a conversation about her without getting angry, and he had already been rude to Artie once today. He didn't want to add another person to the list of friends who were upset with him. "Um, is that supposed to be tartar sauce or pudding," Sam asked pointing at the white semi-solid substance on Artie's lunch tray.

"I think it's supposed to be cottage cheese. Um, is your appetite gone now too?"

"Totally;" Sam gulped. The truth was his appetite had completely left him this morning but it wasn't like he could tell Artie the truth. He took a big enough risk talking to Brittany last night. It didn't matter anyway; Blaine made it very clear that he wouldn't forgive him.

"You look like you're going to throw up," Artie said, pushing his tray to the center of the table. "Are you still sick?"

"No I'm fine," Sam sighed. He wasn't okay, but at least he wasn't actually sick. "Um… have you ever done something you really regret and you don't know how to crawl your way out of it?"

"Dude, I will not let you get back together with Santana. You looked miserable when you were with her. And there is no way she'll ever look at it as anything but you crawling back to her. Trust me, I've been her insult dumping ground since she learned three syllable words – it does not get better."

Sam was genuinely surprised by Artie's outburst of support. He was sure that part of it was due to the fact that there clearly was a rift between Santana and Artie, but it meant a lot that Artie was trying to be helpful. The two of them weren't that close, and they hadn't really spoken since the body shots incident at Rachel's party a few weeks ago; so if anything it actually meant that much more.

On the plus side, the body shot thing made more sense now and that was probably the cause of Santana trying to use Sam being close with Blaine and using the party incident as a way to fuel her plan. There was a good chance that she didn't suspect that he actually had feelings for Blaine. Just thinking those words again brought a smile to Sam's face. The first real smile he had all day. "Santana's not the one I want," Sam's voice was soft when he finally did speak.

"The only other single… oh God, you cannot like Rachel," Artie pleaded with Sam. "If you think Finn and Puck flipped out when you started dating Quinn amplify that by a thousand and that's what you dating Rachel would be like for Glee Club."

"No it's not Rachel. Can we not talk about this? I'm sick of talking about it, especially since the person I want to talk about it with won't even speak to me." Sam was getting frustrated and his voice was growing increasingly louder and it was becoming more difficult to watch what he was saying and to choose his words carefully.

"Okay… have you and Brittany figured out what you're going to do for your duet? Mike and I have been working on it, but there are still kinks and we're running out of time, almost everyone has performed already. I think it's just the four of us and Tina and Quinn left."

"Sorry about hogging your girl," Sam knew that Artie was trying to change the subject, but it didn't help that the new topic Artie picked also made him feel bad about not allowing the two of them to spend time together. "It's coming along good I guess. We're doing a mash-up." Sam's voice began to trail off as an idea started to form in his head. It probably wasn't a good one, but there was less of a chance of it not working, and at this point he was getting desperate. "Actually, I need a favor."

"Sure, what's up," Artie asked.

"Brittany and I haven't practiced in front of anyone before, and you know how she gets nervous about singing in public. Can you meet us in the auditorium after school today so we can do it for you? Oh and bring Blaine. He probably feels embarrassed for messing up the words to his song so I figure if he's there and we mess up he won't feel so bad, and it will give Brittany confidence cause he messed up and no one made fun of him. It's important he's there."

* * *

><p>Author's note:<p>

Sorry it's been a while; a lot of things have come up. I haven't abandoned this story and it will be updated. I hope this chapter – even though it's by far the shortest will tide everyone over until I can get back to writing it.


End file.
